and while I was thus mufing, the fire kindled and at the laft I-fpake with my tongue;

Lord, let me know my end, and the number of my day that I may be certified low long I have to live.

Behold, thou haft made my days as it were a fpan long : and mine age is even as nothing in refpect of thee; and verily every man living is altogether vanity.

For man walketh in a vain fhadow, and difquieteth himfelf in vain he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what is my hope truly my hope is even in thee.

Deliver me from all mine offences and make me not a rebuke unto the foolish.*

I became dumb, and opened not my mouth': for it was thy doing.

Take thy plague away from me: I am even confumed by means of thy heavy hand.

When thou with rebukes doft chaften man for fin, thou makeft his beauty to confume away, like as it were a moth fretting a garment: every man therefore is but vanity.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears confider my calling hold not thy peace at my tears..

For I am a ftranger with thee, and a fojourner as all my fathers were.

O fpare me a little, that I may recover my ftrength: before I go hence, and be no more

feen.

Glory be to the Father, &c. Asit was in the beginning, &c. Domine, refugium. PSAL. go. LORD, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another,

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlafting, and world without end.

Thou turneft man to deftrucagain thou fayeft, Come again, ye children of men.

tion

For a thousand years in thy fight are but as yesterday : feeing that is paft, as a watch in the night.

As foon as thou feattereft them, they are even as a fleep: and fade away fuddenly like the grass.

In the morning it is green, and groweth up but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered.

For we confume away in thy difpleasure and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.

Thou haft fet our mifdeeds before thee and our fecret fins in the light of thy countenance.

For when thou art angry, all our days are gone we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told.

The days of our age are threefcore years and ten; and though men be fo ftrong, that they come to fourfcore years: yet is their ftrength then but labour and forrow; fo foon.. paffeth it away, and we are gone.

But who regardeth the power of thy wrath for even thereafter as a man feareth, fo is thy difpleasure.

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wifdom.

:

us and for the years wherein we have fuffered adversity. Shew thy fervants thy work: and their children thy glory.

And the glorious majeity of the Lord our God be upon us : profper thou the work of our hands upon us, O profper thou our handy-work.

Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Then fall follow the Leffon taken out of the fifteenth Chapter of the former Epiftle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians."

1 Cor. 15.20. OW is Chrift rifen from

dead, first-fruits of them that flept. For fince by man came death, by man came alfo the refurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even fo in Chrift hall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Chrift the first - fruits; afterward they that are Chrift's, at his coming. Then cometh the end when he fhall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father; when he fhall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The laft enemy that fhall be deftroyed is death for he hath put all things under his feet. But when he faith all things are put under him, it is manifeft that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things fhall be fubdued unto him, then fhall the Son alfo himself be fubject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Elfe what fhall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rife not at all? Why are they then baptized for the

dead? and why stand we ingjeopardy every hour? I proteft by your rejoicing, which I have in Chrift Jefus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men have fought with beafts at Ephefus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rife not? Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteous nefs, and fin not: for fome have not the knowledge of God. I fpeak this to your fhame. But fome man will fay, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool,

quickened except it die. And that which thou foweft, thou fowelt not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of fome other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleafed him, and to every feed his own body. All flesh is not the fame flesh but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beatts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celeftial bodies, and bodies terreftrial: but the glory of the celeftial is one, and the glory of the terreftrial is another. There is one glory of the fun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the itars for one star differeth from another ftar in glory. So alfo is the refurrection of the dead. It is fown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption it is fown in difhonour, it is raised in glory: it is fown in weakness, it is raifed in power: it is fown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a fpiritual body. And fo it is written, The first man Adam was made a living foul, the laft Adam was made a

-quickening fpirit. Howbeit, that

AN that is born of a wo

:

but that which is natural; and afterward that which is fpi. ritual. The firft man is of the earth, earthy: the fed man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, fuch are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly, fuch are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we fhall alfo bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I fay, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I fhew you a myftery; We fhall not all fleep, but we thall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of Ian eye, at the laft trump for the trumpet fhall found, and the dead fhall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mor. tal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this

mortal fhall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pafs the faying that is written, Death is fwallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy iting O grave, where is thy victory? The fting of death is fin, and the ftrength of fin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jefus Chrift. Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye ftedfaft, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forafmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

When they come to the Grave, while the Corps is made ready to be laid into the earth, the Prieft fall fay, or the Prieft and Clerks all fing,

to live, and is full of mifery, He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a fhadow, and never continueth in one stay.

In the midft of life we are in death; of whom may we feek for fuccour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our fins art juftly dif pleased?

Yet, O Lord God moft holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and moft merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.

Thou knoweft, Lord, the fecrets of our hearts: fhut not thy merciful ears to our prayers; but fpare us, Lord, moft holy, O God moft mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, fuffer us not at our laft hour for any pains of death to fall from thee, Then while the earth fhall be caft upon the body by fome standing by, the Priest fall fay,

F

Almighty God of his great Orafmuch as it hath pleafed mercy to take unto himself the foul of our dear brother here debody to the ground; earth to parted, we therefore commit his earth, afhes to afhes, duft to duft; in fure and certain hope through our Lord Jefus Chrift; of the refurrection to eternal life, who fhall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to fubdue all things to himself.

Then fhall be faid or fung, Heard a voice from heaven,

faying unto me, Write; Froni henceforth bleffed are the dead which die in the Lord: even fo Taith the Spirit; for they reft from their labours,