Prayer for the 1604 Finally, let us praise God for all those which are departed out of this life in the faith of Christ, and pray unto God... that, this life ended, we may be made partakers with them of the glorious resurrection in the life everlasting.'-Canon LV. 1620 Grant to such bodies as shall be here interred, that they with us, and we with them, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thine everlasting kingdom.'-Bp. Andrewes' Form of Consecration of a Church. 'God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, accept, sanctify and bless this place to that end whereunto, according to Thine own ordinance, we have ordained it, even to bestow the bodies of Thy servants in, till, the number of Thine elect being accomplished, they with us, and we with them, and with all other departed in the true faith of Thy Holy Name, shall have our consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory.'-Bp. Andrewes' Form of Consecration of a Cemetery. 1623 'To these everlasting joys and pleasures, in houses not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens, for which we daily sigh and groan, God for His mercy vouchsafe to bring us; that we, with this our sister and all others departed in the faith of Christ, may have our perfect consummation there in soul and body. And He bring it to pass for us, That, by His death, hath purchased life for us, Christ Jesus, the righteous.' (Funeral Sermon at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, on the seventeenth of June, A.D. MDCXXIII. at the Funeral of Mrs. Dorothy Holmes.)Bp. Cosin's Works, i. 43. Lib. Anglo-Cath. Theol. 1626 'And so I end, beseeching God to give to us all, as He Prayer for the gave to him, our parts in the "first resurrection" from Departed. sin to grace; and to grant to him, and all the faithful and saints departed, and us all with him, a joyful resurrection to everlasting life and glory in Jesus Christ. Amen.' (Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Right Honourable and Reverend Father in God, Lancelot, late Lord Bishop of Winchester, by the Right Reverend Father in God, John, late Lord Bishop of Ely.)—Bp. Andrewes' Sermons, v. 298. Lib. Anglo-Cath. Theol. 1632 Utque desinentes te vocare hic in terris, possimus cum reliquis servis tuis, qui consimilia loca dedicaverunt numini tuo, cumque omnibus sanctis tuis, in æternum laudare nomen tuum in summis cœlis. . . . Concede corporibus hic sepultis, ut illa nobiscum et nos cum illis et cum omnibus aliis vitâ defunctis in verâ fide et confessione nominis tui, consequamur perfectam beatudinem etc.'-MS. of the Form of Consecration of the Chapel of St. Peter's College, Cambridge; preserved in the College Archives. 1633 'Some have introduced prayer for the dead, as Master Browne in his printed sermon, and some have coloured the use of it with questions in Cambridge, and disputed that preces pro defunctis non supponunt purgatorium.'-Coxe, Forms of Bidding Prayer, p. 165 note. Oxford, 1840. c. 1650 * That we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His Passion.] Where by "all the whole Church," is to be understood, Departed. Prayer for the as well those that have been heretofore, and those that shall be hereafter, as those that are now the present members of it. (And hereupon my Lord of Winchester, Bp. Andrewes,1 grounded his answer to Cardinal Perron, when he said, "We have and offer this sacrifice both for the living and the dead, as well for them that are absent, as those that be present; " or words to this purpose) So that the virtue of this sacrifice (which is here in this prayer of oblation commemorated and represented) doth not only extend itself to the living, and those that are present, but likewise to them that are absent, and them that be already departed, or shall in time to come live and die in the faith of Christ.'-Bp. Cosin, Notes on the Book of Common Prayer, Second Series, Works, v. 351, 352. Lib. Anglo-Cath. Theol. 1653-8 *Though the souls of the faithful be always in an estate of blessedness, yet they want the consummation of this blessedness, extensively at least, until the body be reunited unto the soul; and (as it is piously and probably believed) intensively also, that the soul hath not yet so full and clear a vision of God, as it shall have hereafter. Then what forbids Christians to pray for this public acquittal, for this consummation of blessedness? So we do pray, as often as we say "Thy kingdom come,” or "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." Our Church is yet plainer;"That we, with this our brother and all other departed in the faith of Thy Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and blessedness in Thy everlasting kingdom." *We condemn not all "praying for the dead," not for their resurrection, and the consummation of their 1 See Bp. Andrewes' Answer to Cardinal Perron, Minor Works, p. 20, Lib. AngloCath. Theol., where the actual words are, "The Sacrifice of Christ's death is available, for present, absent, living, dead (yea, for them that are yet unborn). When we say the dead, we mean it is available for the Apostles, Martyrs, and Confessors, and all (because we are all members of one body): these no man will deny."— ED. 1904. happiness, but their [the Romanists'] prayers for their Prayer for the deliverance out of Purgatory.' That the souls [of the departed] may be helped to the consummation of their blessedness, and to a speedier union with their bodies by the resurrection thereof, they [the modern Greeks] do not deny, no more do we we pray daily, "Thy kingdom come, and "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly"; and "that we, with this our brother, and all other departed in the Faith, may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul."-Archbp. Bramhall, Works, i. 60; ii. 494, 633. Lib. Anglo-Cath. Theol. c. 1660 * Finally let us praise God for all those that are already departed out of this life in the faith of Christ, and pray unto God, we may have grace to direct our lives after their good examples, that this life ended we may be made partakers with them of the glorious resurrection in the life everlasting.'-Bidding Prayer of William Sancroft, B.D., Coxe, Forms of Bidding Prayer, p. 174. 1661 But here, O Lord, we offer unto Thee all possible praise and thanks for all the glory of Thy grace that shined forth in Thine anointed, our late Sovereign, and that Thou wert pleased to own him (this day especially) in the midst of his enemies and in the hour of death, and to endue him with such eminent patience, meekness, humility, charity, and all other Christian virtues, according to the example of Thine own Son, suffering the fury of his and Thine enemies, for the preservation of Thy Church and people. And we beseech Thee to give us all grace to remember and provide for our latter end, by a careful, studious imitation of this Thy blessed Saint and Martyr, and all other Thy Saints and Martyrs that have gone before us, that we may be made worthy to receive benefit by their prayers, which they in communion with Departed. Departed. Prayer for the Thy Church Catholick offer up unto Thee for that part of it here militant, and yet in fight with and danger from the flesh that following the blessed steps of their holy lives and deaths, we may also shew forth the light of a good example; for the glory of Thy Name, the conversion of our enemies, and the improvement of those generations we shall shortly leave behind us: and then, with all those that have borne the heat and burthen of the day (Thy servant particularly, whose sufferings and labours we this day commemorate), receive the reward of our labours, the harvest of our hopes, even the salvation of our souls and that for the merits and through the mediation of Thy Son, our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.'-Form of Common Prayer, to be used upon the Thirtieth Day of January: cited in Maskell's Ancient Liturgy, Preface, cxlix. note. 2nd ed. 1846. 1662 ' And we also bless Thy holy Name for all Thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear; beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of Thy heavenly kingdom. Grant this, Ŏ Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.' 'O Lord and heavenly Father, we Thy humble servants entirely desire Thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching Thee to grant, that by the merits and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood, we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His passion. . Amen.' (Communion Service.) 'Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity; we give Thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased Thee to deliver this our |