CHAPTER IX.

BURIAL OF THE DEAD.

THE office for the Burial of the Dead, according to the English ritual, commences on the approach of the body towards the church. In primitive times, the body, immediately after death, was washed and arrayed in new garments; and the clergy and people watched the remains until the time of burial came. During this interval psalms were sung, and lessons read a. The body was then carried to the church, with singing of psalms or anthems, as we learn from the Apostolical Constitutions, from Dionysius Areopagite, Chrysostom, and other sources". With this custom all the rituals of the eastern and western churches, that I have seen, concur; and, amongst other, the ritual of the English church directs the priest and other clergy to meet the corpse at the entrance of the cemetery, and precede it into the church, or towards the grave, singing or saying certain anthems appropriate to the occasion. Of these anthems, the two former have been long used in the English church in some part of the office for the departed.

a

Martene, de Antiq. Ec- p. 573, &c. Bingham, ut sup. clesiæ Ritibus, lib. iii. c. 12, p. 553, &c. Bingham, AnBingham, Antiquities, book xxiii. c. 3.

b Martene, lib. iii. c. 14,

See the various orders for burial of the dead in Martene, lib. iii. c. 15. Goar, Rit. Græc. p. 526, &c.

I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

Ego sum resurrectio et vita: qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivit: et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in æternum d.

Credo quia Redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum: et in carne mea videbo Deum Salvatorem meum. Quem visurus sum ego ipse, et non alius : et oculi mei conspecturi sunt e.

When the procession has entered the church, the office proceeds with psalmody and reading of Scripture. A similar custom is mentioned by the author called Dionysius, as prevailing in his time in the east: and we find frequent mention of the same amongst the oriental fathers. Nearly the same order prevails in the patriarchate of Constantinople, where many anthems aad psalms are sung, and lessons from the Epistles and Gospels are read. In the western churches it seems that the eucharist was celebrated at this time, in which prayers were made for the happiness of the deceased. This was customary in Africa in the fifth century, according to Augustine"; and in Italy in the time of Ambrose ';

i

i Paulin. Vita Ambrosii : "Illucescente die Dominico, cum corpus illius, peractis sacramentis divinis, de ecclesia levaretur, portandum ad Basilicam Ambrosianam," &c.

and we find it recognized in all the western rituals'. But it was not usual in the east, where the liturgy is not performed at funerals even to the present day. The psalms which are appointed by the church of England on the present occasion are highly appropriate. A part of the lesson which follows has been used by the English church for a considerable length of time. It was anciently read in the celebration of the eucharist, which formerly took place in England, as in other western churches, at this time; and although the English church has not continued the custom, but adopted the practice of the church of Constantinople, the importance of this part of scripture has caused it to be used as the proper lesson on the present occasion. In the church of Constantinople they read part of the fourth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians, and a gospel from St. John'.

1 Cor. xv. 20.

Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, &c.

Epistola ad Corinthios. Fratres, Christus resurrexit a mortuis, primitiæ dormientium; quoniam quidem per hominem mors, et per hominem resurrectio mortuorum. Et sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur; unusquisque autem in suo ordinem.

From the church the procession advances to the sepulchre, where, as the necessary preparations are

j Martene, p. 595. 604. 606. 608, &c. &c.

* Goar, Rit. Græc. p. 525, &c. &c.

1 Ibid. p. 535.

m Man. Sarisb. missa pro defunctis, fol. 136.

making, the priest and clergy sing or repeat anthems; and then, the body being interred with a certain formulary, another anthem is sung or said. The same order is found in the ancient rituals of the eastern and western churches. The only thing worthy of notice in this part of the English ritual is, the form repeated by the priest, beginning, "Forasmuch as it hath pleased God Almighty," &c. This form of committing the "body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes," &c. seems, as far as I can judge, to be peculiar to our church; as we find that most other rituals of the east and west appoint some psalm or anthem to be sung or said while the body is placed in the tomb: but the same form nearly has been used in the English church for many ages, though anciently it followed after the body was covered with earth, and not while the earth was placed upon it. The anthems which precede and follow this formulary have generally been very anciently used in the English church on occasions connected with that which we at present consider.

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.

In the midst of life we are in death of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased?

n Man. Sar. in Vigil. Mortuorum, p. 119.

Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore: repletus multis miseriis: qui quasi flos egreditur ct conteritur, et fugit velut umbra: et nunquam in eodem statu permanet".

Media vita in morte sumus, quem quærimus adjutorem nisi te, Domine! qui pro peccatis nostris juste irascaris ° 0?

• Brev. Sarisb. Psalt. fol. 55.

After this anthem is concluded, the prayers commence with the short litany, which is followed by

P Brev. Sarisb. Psalt. fol. humatio defuncti.

9 Manuale Sar. fol. 149. In- Vigil. Mortuorum, fol. 112.