Page:The church manual (Church of the Brethren 1916).djvu/46

 "Do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, performing towards him all the functions of the marriage state, forsaking all others and cleaving to him alone until parted by death?"

Answer by the woman, "I do."

The parties now join hands and the minister will say:

Upon the promises which you have made before God and these witnesses, I do now, by the authority vested in me as a minister of the Gospel, pronounce you husband and wife, and what God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

The minister now lays his right hand on the joined hands of the parties married, and pronounces the following benediction:

"May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you with all spiritual and temporal blessings, and enable you, through his grace, to perform the solemn vows which you have now made, so that when you have answered the design of your being here on earth, you may be gathered home to praise him eternally in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

CHAPTER XVII.

BURIAL SERVICE.

Outside of the regular funeral or preaching services, we know of no accepted form for the burial of our dead. Therefore the services held at the grave differ in different