LORD most merciful, prepare us for the upward journey, and bring us at last into that higher life, in which darkness and death shall be unknown, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.. ¶ May follow * *. VER-LIVING GOD, with whom the righteous are EVER in everlasting remembrance: We give Thee hearty thanks for the good examples of all those Thy servants, who, having pursued their course with diligence and finished it with joy, have laid down the burden of the flesh, and entered into Thy heavenly rest. May their mantle continue in the midst of us, O LORD; and grant, we beseech Thee, that our own labors may be kept in grateful recollection, when the places which now know us shall know us no more. ¶ In the Burial of the Dead at Sea: "We therefore commit the body to the deep-believing in," &c. Dedication of a Cemetery. The introductory in the Order for the Burial of the Dead, including one or more of the Scripture Lessons, (the first half of the prayer being omitted,) may be followed by a Hymn. At the places indicated by a star, let earth be cast upon the ground. CHRIS HRISTIAN FRIENDS: As Abraham bought the field of Ephron, with its adornment of trees and the cave of Machpelah, that he might make a burialplace for his dead, so have you set apart these grounds, as the spot in which the dust of your kindred, and your own, shall return to the earth as it was. Not as a desert waste shall it ever be suffered to lie open, nor become like the garden of the slothful, overgrown with weeds and with walls broken down; but the winds of heaven that pass over it in the season of bloom, shall be laden with fragrance,—and in the win ter-time, they shall sigh the memory of the departed through the branches of the evergreens. Not as implying holiness in any thing material, nor as imparting sanctity by a ceremonial, are we about to dedicate this place of burial. All that shall be brought hither will be of the earth, earthy; yet even the body, in its silence and dust, may claim peculiar respect as having been the tabernacle of a spirit that shall never die. It is not superstition, but religion, which subdues us into the stillness of awe in the presence of death, and impels us reverently to regard the insensible form, not because of what it is, but of what it was. The reverential sentiment is passed over to the earth to which it is returned, and the burial-place thus becomes invested with the solemnity of holy ground. WHEN, therefore, the light and life of infancy or childhood, shall fade away into the morning radiance of the spiritual sun, hither shall you come, to commit the body to its serene repose-sorrowing that earth has one mortal less, yet rejoicing that heaven has one angel more. The silver cord hath been loosed: Earth to earth*-ashes to ashes*-dust to dust.* WHEN youth, or early manhood or womanhood, shall perish in the promise or joy of usefulness, there will be sore lamentation at the springs of social life; and the wail will here be renewed, when the stricken form is laid in the pulseless heart of our common mother. The pitcher hath been broken at the fountain: Earth to earth*-ashes to ashes*-dust to dust.* WHEN the dial shall be darkened at meridian, because the maturity of life has passed away into the this shadowy silence with its mournful chords, and the heart-aching of sympathy shall respond to the heartbreaking of woe. The golden bowl hath been broken: Earth to earth*-ashes to ashes*-dust to dust.* WHEN the weary pilgrim of many years, stepping out of the solemn procession of life, shall have put off his sandals, and laid aside his staff, and been gathered into the promised rest, hither shall you bring all that was mortal, and reverently consign it to the house appointed for all the living. The wheel hath been broken at the cistern: Earth to earth*-ashes to ashes*- dust to dust.* THUS do we dedicate and devote these grounds to the → purpose of burial. Let no unseemly mirth invade this sanctuary of the dead, nor let such as come hither to weep, or who shall remember this place of graves, abandon themselves to hopeless sorrow. In the vision of Christian faith, time is that section of eternity with which we have to do in the flesh, and immortality is but the continuous life, when time shall be no more. There is no death to one who has triumphed over it by the power of a living trust in God, for death is only in the darkness which comes forth of the tomb, and gathers around the hidden path into the life to come. We are pilgrims and strangers in the earth: our citizenship is in the invisible and eternal Presence. We see not the value of this revelation, or regard it not, when the sky is cloudless, and the joy of the heart is looking out of undimmed eyes; but when the heavens are robed in gloom, and the soul is bowed in bereavement, a beam of light breaks through a rift in the cloud,—and the mourner looks up, and is glad, because through tears he beholds the rainbow of hope spanning the abyss of death. The earth, once clad in beauty and lately clothed in sackcloth, is now hallowed by the ministering spirits of the Most High, and even the darkness of midnight is lighted up by the glories of eternal noon. The sundered silver cord of childhood, the crystal pitcher marred in youth, the perished golden bowl of middle life, and the broken wheel of old age,-all these types shall come to us in the subduing realities of the world; but this dedication is not completed with lifeless symbols, nor ended in earth, and ashes, and dust. Recollection will indeed cling to the once visible form, and mourning affection will seek the living among the dead; but remembrance, when transfigured by the angel of hope, will demand the associations of cheerfulness. Wherefore, let buds and blossoms, and flowers and evergreens, be strewn on the graves which await our coming. Though bloom may perish, and verdure pass away, the memory of fragrance and beauty will consecrate this place, and sweetly blend with the prophecy of an undying life. "And darkness and doubt are now fleeing away- On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending, TA Hymn. The Benediction. NOW the Gon of Peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Hymns of Devotion. ORDER OF THE HYMNS. 1 Sabbath Worship. 2 Divine Providence. 3 Trust in the Lord. 4 The Holy Scriptures. 5 The Gospel of Christ. 6 Aspirations and Virtues. 7 Affliction and Consolation. 8 Occasional Hymns. 9 Closing Hymns. 1 2 1 WHEN, as returns this solemn day, 3 Vain, sinful man! creation's Lord Thy golden offerings well may spare; L. M. 1 GOD in his temple let us meet, MONTGOMERY. In spirit, low before him bend: 2 Arise into thy resting-place, Thou, and thine ark, Most Holy Lord! 3 With truth thy ministers array,— |