come? O, that we may all of us be mindful of this " one thing necessary," that we may finish our "work," before we finish our course. Quicken thy servant, O Lord, into a powerful and serious consideration of these things, now thou hast brought him into more intimate acquaintance with them. Instruct and assist him in this great work of preparation to die. Show him how to do it, and help him with good success to perform it; that when the time of his dissolution draweth near, he may have nothing else to do, but to resign himself willingly and cheerfully into thy hands, as into the hands of a merciful Creator, there to remain with thee for ever in that blessed place where sin and sickness and death shall be no more. Amen. We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God; that it may please thee to be his defender A commendatory Prayer for a sick Person at the and keeper; to remember him with the favour point of Departure. [Visitation Office.} O ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of just men made perfect; we humbly commend the soul of this thy servant our dear brother into thy hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator, and most merciful Saviour; humbly beseeching thee, that it may be acceptable in thy sight. And teach us, who survive, by this and other daily instances of mortality, to see how frail and uncertain our own condition is, and so to number our days, that we may seriously apply our hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom, which may bring us to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord. Amen. A Litany for a sick Person at the time of Departure. [From Bishop Andrews.] O God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy upon him: O God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Save and deliver him. O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, Have mercy upon him: O, holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, Remember not, Lord, his offences; call not to mind the offences of his forefathers; but spare him, good Lord, spare thy servant, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood, and be not angry with him for ever. From thy wrath and indignation; from the fear of death; from the guilt and burden of his sins, and from the dreadful sentence of the last judgment; Good Lord deliver him. thou bearest unto thy people, and to visit him with thy salvation: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. soul from the power of the enemy, to receive it to That it may please thee to save and deliver his thy mercy, and to give him a quiet and joyful departure: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. That it may please thee to be merciful, and to forgive all the sins and offences, which at any time of his life he hath committed against thee: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. That it may please thee not to lay to his charge, what in the lust of the flesh, or in the lust of the eye, or in the pride of life, he hath committed against thee: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. That it may please thee not to lay to his charge, what, in the fierceness of his wrath, or in vain and idle words, he hath committed against thee: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. That it may please thee to make him partaker of all thy mercies, and promises, in Christ Jesus. We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. That it may please thee to grant his body rest and peace, and a part in the blessed resurrection of life and glory: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. That it may please thee to vouchsafe his soul the enjoyment of everlasting happiness, with all the blessed saints in thy heavenly kingdom: We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord. Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world; Grant him thy peace. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world; Have mercy upon him. } as follow, III. Form of recommending the Soul to God, in her Departure from the Body. [From Bishop Cosins.] INTO thy merciful hands, O Lord, we commend the soul of this thy servant, now departing from the body. Receive him, we humbly beseech thee, into the arms of thy mercy, into the glorious society of thy saints in heaven. Amen. GOD the Father, who hath created thee; God From all danger and distress; from all terrors the Son, who hath redeemed thee; God the Holy LORD, impute not unto him the follies of his youth, nor any of the errors of his life; but strengthen him in his agony, and carry him safely through the last distress. Let not his faith waver, nor his hope fail, nor his charity be diminished; let him die in peace, and rest in hope, and rise in glory. Amen. O SAVIOUR of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood hast redeemed us; save and help this thy departing servant, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord. Amen. UNTO thy gracious mercy and protection we commit him. O Lord, bless him, and keep him. Make thy face to shine upon him, and be gracious unto him. Lift up thy countenance upon him, and give him peace, both now and evermore. Amen. A consolatory Form of Devotion that may be used with the Friends or Relations of the Deceased. "SORROW not, brethren, for them which are asleep, even as others, who have no hope. "For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again; even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him."-1 Thess. iv. 13, 14. "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good unto him."-1 Sam. iii. 18. "The righteous is taken away from the evil to come."-Isaiah lvii 1. "Though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen. "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 everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction; again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, seeing that is past as a watch in the night. As soon as thou scatterest them, they are even as a sleep, and fade away suddenly 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 consume away in thy displeasure, and are afraid of thy wrathful indignation. Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee, and our secret sins 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. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Turn thee again at last, and be gracious to thy servants. Comfort them again, now after the time that thou hast afflicted them, and for the present occasion, wherein they suffer adversity. O satisfy them with thy mercy, and that soon; so shall they rejoice, and be glad all the days of their life." MOST just art thou, O God, in all thy dealings with us, 66 our punishment is less than our iniquities deserve;" and therefore we desire to submit with all humility and patience to this dispensation of thy divine providence. Be pleased so to sanctify it to this family, that thy grace and mercy may more abundantly flow upon thy servants. Thy property it is to bring good out of evil; O turn that evil, which is now befallen this house, to the benefit of every one of us, that so we may be able to say, from happy experience, that "the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting," while the death of our brother, through thy blessing, shall conduce and minister to our spiritual advantage. Let the sight of his change make us the more "The honourable age is not that which stand-mindful of our own, and the sense of our loss eth in length of days, nor that which is measured by number of years. "But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age."-Wisd. iv. 7, 8, 9. "Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints."-Psalm cxvi. 15. "Yea, blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord; even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours."-Rev. xiv. 13. Let us pray. Lord, have mercy upon us. OUR Father which art in heaven: hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be make us cleave more steadfastly to thee, O God. Let the remembrance of his virtues make us follow his example, and the hope we have of his being blessed, cause us to "press," with the more earnestness, "towards the mark, for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus." Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness and frailty of our nature, and therefore we beseech thee to give thy servants, who are more nearly concerned in this visitation, a constant supply of thy good Spirit, to enable them to bear it with humility, patience, resignation, and submission to thy divine will, as becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ. O that no repining thoughts may arise in their hearts to discompose their duty towards thee, or towards their neighbour: but help them rather to think wherein they have offended thee, and carefully to amend it: to place their affections more steadfastly on those inmoveable things which are above, and freely resign all their thoughts and desires unto thee; saying, with holy Job, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." And let the death of thy servant strike us all with such a lively sense of our mortality, as may cause us so thoroughly to die to sin, and live to grace, that when we die, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our brother doth. We evidently see "that death is the end of all men;" grant us therefore grace to lay it to heart, to despise the world, "to abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good; to delight in thy word, to study thy will, to observe thy law, and fo take all possible care to promote thy honour, and our own salvation; that when "we go the way of all earth, we may be comforted by thy presence," and admitted into thy heavenly kingdom. Amen. be pleased to comfort him in this bed of sickness. establish him with the light of thy countenance: and grant that no repining thoughts may increase his illness, or discompose his duty towards thee, or his neighbour: but enable him to think wherein he hath oflended thee, and carefully to amend his errors; to set his affections on things above, and not on things below, and to lay up for himself treasures in heaven, even the treasures of a good life, which no disasters or calamities shall ever be able to take from him. Grant this, O heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person who by any calamitous Disaster hath broken any of his Bones, or is very much bruised and hurt in his Body. [From Mr. Jenks.] hast taught us that "affliction cometh not forth O LORD, the only disposer of all events, thou of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground:" but that the disasters which befall us are by thy appointment. Thou art just in all ASSIST us mercifully, O Lord, in these our thou bringest upon us: and though thy "judgsupplications and prayers, and dispose the wayments are far above out of our sight," yet we of thy servants towards the attainment of ever-know "that they are right, and that it is in very lasting salvation; that, among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Lord bless us and keep us, the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us, and give us peace, now and for evermore. Amen. OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND DEVOTIONS FOR THE CASES. A Prayer for a Person whose Illness is chiefly brought on him by some calamitous Disaster or loss, as of Estate, Relations, or Friends, &c. [From Bishop Patrick.] O MOST gracious and glorious God, supreme Judge and Governor of the world, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," and from whom all the blessings we enjoy, and "every good and perfect gift cometh," grant us, we humbly beseech thee, such a measure of thy grace, that whenever thou art pleased to remove any of thy blessings from us, we may bear it with a perfect resignation to thy divine will; and with all patience, humility, and contentedness of spirit, consider how unworthy we are of the least of thy mercies. More particularly, O Lord, we beseech thee to give this peaceableness, and contentedness of mind, to this thy servant, whom thou hast so sensibly afflicted, by taking so near and dear a blessing from him. O give him such a portion of thy blessed Spirit, and such a lively sense of his duty, that he may have power to surmount all the difficulties he labours under, and freely to resign all his thoughts and desires unto thee, submitting himself entirely to thy good providence, and resolving, by thy gracious assistance, to rest contented with whatsoever thou in thy wisdom appointest for him. Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness and frailty of our nature, and therefore faithfulness thou causest us to be afflicted." "Why then should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" Let these considerations prevail with thy servant to submit to thy dispensations. Make him resolve to bear the effects of thy displeasure, and to consider it as the just desert of his sins. O Lord, give him patience and strength, and grace, proportionable to this great trial; and enable him so to conduct himself under it, that, after the affliction is removed, he may find cause to say, "it was good for him to be afflicted." Thou that hast torn and smitten, thon art able to heal and to comfort. Be pleased to remember him in this his low estate. Cause him to "search and try his ways, and turn to thee, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance." We know, O Lord, thou canst raise him up from the deepest affliction: O, let it be thy gracious will to glorify thy power and mercy in his recovery; or, however thou shalt think fit to dispose of this "vile body," grant him, O God, a mind entirely resigned to thy will, and satisfied with thy dispensations. O, make this calamity the messenger of thy love to his soul, and the happy means of his conversion; through Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer for a Person that is afflicted with grievous Pains of his Body. [From Mr. Jenks.] O LORD, thou art a merciful God, and dost not willingly afflict the children of men; but when necessity requires, thou chastisest us for our profit, that we may be partakers of thy holiness. Remove, we beseech thee, this affliction from thy servant, or enable him to bear what thou art pleased to lay upon him. Lord, all his desire is before thee, and his groaning is not hid from thee. Regard his affliction, when thou hearest his cry. Enter not into judgment with him, nor deal with him according to his sins, but according to thy mercy in Jesus Christ. O gracious Father, sanctify to him what thou hast laid upon him, that his present affliction may work out for him an eternal weight of glory. Support him under his pains, till it shall please thee to grant him ease and comfort. And, however thou shalt deal with him, let him not repine at thy correction, nor sin in charging thee foolishly. Make him sensible, that thou doest nothing but what is wise and just; nothing but what thy servant shall one day have cause to bless and praise thee for doing. And let this consideration teach him to glority thee in the time of his visitation, by an humble submission to thy will, and a sincere reformation under thy providential dispensations; that thou mayest visit him in mercy and love, show him the joy of thy salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for One who is troubled with acute Pains of the Gout, Stone, Colic, or any other bodily Distemper. [From Mr. Spinkes.] O BLESSED God, just and holy, who dost not willingly afflict the children of men; withhold not, we beseech thee, thy assistance from this thy servant in the extremity of his pain. His sorrows are increased, and his soul is full of trouble. He has none to flee unto, for the ease and mitigation of his agonies, but to thee, O Lord. He freely owns that his sufferings are infinitely less than he has deserved; yet since they pierce deep, and are become almost too heavy for him to bear, we presume to call upon thee for aid; and to entreat thee, not to punish him according to his deserts. For if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss. O Lord, who may abide it?" Spare him therefore for thy mercy's sake; and correct him "not in thine anger, lest thou bring him to nothing." Endue him with that patience which may enable him cheerfully to submit to thy chastisement; and grant him an unfeigned repentance for all his sins. Comfort his soul, which melteth away for very heaviness, and let thy loving mercy come unto him. Sanctify this thy fatherly correction to him, that it may be for thy glory, and his advantage. And when thy gracious ends in afflicting him, shall be accomplished, which we know are not for "thy pleasure," but for his profit, give him, we beseech thee, a fresh occasion to rejoice in thy saving health; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person in the Small-Pox, or any such-like raging infectious Disease. O GRACIOUS and merciful Father, the only giver of health, look down, we beseech thee, with an eye of compassion, upon thy miserable and disconsolate servant, from whom thou hast taken this great and valuable blessing; and instead of it, has filled every part of his body with a sore disease. Teach him, O Lord, and teach us all from hence, to consider how soon the beauty of life is blasted like a flower, and our "strength dried up like a potsherd," that we may not put our trust in any of these transitory things, but in thee only, the living God, who art able to save and to destroy, to kill and to make alive. Our brother, whom we now behold a spectacle of misery, was lately, like one of us, in perfect health. But now "thou makest his beauty to consume away, as it were a moth fretting a garment, Thine arrows stick fast in him, and thy hand presseth him sore; so that there is no soundness in his fiesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in his bones by reason of his sin. "O reject him not utterly, but take thy plague away from him. Return, O Lord, and that speedily; for his spirit faileth. O leave him not in his distress; for though the world may forsake him, his sure trust is in thee. To thee, O Lord, does he cry; to thee doth he stretch forth his hands; his soul thirsteth after thee as a barren and dry land. Lord, all his desire is before thee, and his groaning is not hid from thee. Comfort him therefore again now after the time that thou hast afflicted him, and for the days wherein he hath suffered adversity." Put a stop, O Lord, we beseech thee, to this raging infection, and say to the destroying angel, "It is enough." Protect us under the shadow of thy wings, that we may not "be afraid of any terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noonday;" but that, with ease in our minds, and health in our bodies, we may serve thee cheerfully all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Prayer for a Person in a Consumption, or any lingering Disease. [From Mr. Jenks.] O MERCIFUL God, thou hast long kept thy servant under thy chastening hand; thou hast made him acquainted with grief; and his sickness is even become his familiar companion: yet, O blessed Lord, grant that he may not be impatient under thy chastisement, who art pleased to wait so long for the return of a sinner: but let him remember that thou hast kind intentions, even in thy bitterest dispensations; that thou "chastenest him whom thou lovest, and scourgest every son whom thou receivest." Teach him, O gracious Father, to see love in thy rod, and justice in all thy dealings; that he may humble himself under thy mighty hand; that he may think it good for him to have been afflicted, and patiently wait for thy loving kindness. Yet, that his faith may not fail, nor his patience be overcome, give him ease and relaxation from his pain, and a happy conclusion of this long visitation. In the mean time, grant that he may neither despise thy chastening, nor faint under thy rebukes; but employ the time which thou lendest, and improve the affliction which thou continuest, as a gracious opportunity for his spiritual advantage; that under the decays of the body, the inner man may be renewed day by day; salvation may be promoted and perfected through and that whatever appertains to his everlasting the riches of thy grace, and the multitude of thy mercies in Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer for a Person who is lame in his Sick ness. [From Mr. Lewis.] O ALMIGHTY God, who "art eyes to the blind and feet to the lame," have pity, we entreat thee, on thy servant: help him in his distress, and bless, we pray thee, the means made use of for his cure. Make him sensible of thy design in visiting him with this affliction; cause him to remember, how in his strength and health, he followed his own devices, and the desire of his own heart; and let him see, that thou hast lifted up thy hand against him, for this very purpose, that he may learn to walk more humbly with thee, and turn his feet to thy testimonies. Deliver him from the painful confinement under which he labours, and grant him again the happiness of enjoying the comforts of life, and of worshiping thee in thy sanctuary, with the "voice of joy and praise." But, O Lord, not our will, but thine be done. Thou knowest better what is good for us, than we ourselves; and it is in wisdom that thou afflictest us. Give thy servant patience, that he may bear his pains without murmuring, and wait at the time of his deliverance from them without uneasiness; satisfy him of thy care over him, and thy tender regard to him; and in thy good time restore him to his former strength and vigour, that he may give thanks to thee in the great congregation; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. A Prayer for One that is Bed-ridden. [From Mr. Lewis.] any enings and promises; that he may neither cast Another for the same, or for One under deep Melancholy and Dejection of Spirit. [From Mr. Jenks.] O MOST gracious Lord, thou knowest our frame, and art full of compassion to thy servants under their trouble and oppression; look down upon us, we humbly beseech thee, with thy wonted pity, and remember the work of thy hands, our disconsolate brother. Thy wrath lies hard upon him; and all thy waves are gone over him; thy terrors oppress his mind, and disturb his reason. O thou O LORD our God, the Father of mercies, and that speakest the winds and waves into obedience the God of all comfort, have compassion, we en- and calmness, settle and quiet his discomposed treat thee, on the helpless condition of thy servant: thoughts; speak peace and satisfaction to his support his spirits which are ready to droop under troubled mind, and give him comfort and sure afiliction: refresh his mind which is apt to be un-confidence in the sense of thy pardon and love. easy and melancholy at the thought of perpetual confinement. Give sleep to his eyes, and rest to his weary thoughts. Cause him to meditate on thee in the night watches; to "commune with his own heart ;" and, in his solitude, "to search and try his ways," that he may see wherein he hath erred, and may turn unto thee with all his soul and with all his strength. Let this affliction be the means of preparing him for the enjoyment of thy presence, in which is fulness of joy; and let him be the more patient under it for that reason. Make him thankful that thou hast by this expedient preserved him from the company of those whose evil communication might have corrupted his heart, and hast taken him out of a world, by the snares and temptations of which he might have been prevailed upon to forsake thee, and turn from the way of thy commandments. Grant, O Lord, that he may not render himself unworthy of thy favour, by murmuring and repining; but that he may use the leisure and opportunity now given him, to make his peace with thee, and be fitted for the enjoyment of an inheritance among the saints in light; through thy mercy in Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. Lord, help his unbelief, and increase his faith. Though he walk in the valley and shadow of death, let "thy rod and thy staff support and protect him." In the multitude of the thoughts and sorrows that he hath in his heart, let thy comfort refresh his soul. Let in a beam of thy heavenly light, to dispel the clouds and darkness in which his mind is involved. O direct to the means most proper for his help, and so bless and prosper them, that they may effectually promote his recovery out of this deplorable state. Incline his ears to wholesome counsels, and dispose his heart to receive due impressions. O gracious Father, pity his frailty, forgive his sin, and rebuke his distemper, that his disquieted soul may return to its rest. O, raise him up, and show thy mercy upon him, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Saviour and Redeemer. Amen, For the same. [From Bishop Patrick.] PRESERVE this thy servant, O gracious Father, from dishonouring thee and his religion, by distrusting thy power, or thy goodness. Remove all troublesome imaginations from him, and give him a clear understanding of thee, and A Prayer for a Person troubled in Mind, or in of himself, that no causeless fears and jealousies Conscience. [Visitation Office.] O BLESSED Lord, the Father of Mercies, and the God of all comforts, we beseech thee, look down in pity and compassion upon this thine afflicted servant. Thou writest bitter things against him, and makest him to possess his former iniquities: thy wrath lieth hard upon him, and his soul is full of trouble. But, O merciful God, who hast given us thy holy word for our learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope; give him a right understanding of himself, and of thy threat may overwhelm him, nor his heart sink within him from any sadness and dejection of spirit. Compose, we beseech thee, his disturbed thoughts; quiet his disordered mind, and appease all the tumults of his soul, by a sweet sense of thy tender mercies, and of the love of thy Son Jesus Christ to mankind. Keep him from forming any rash conclusions concerning thy providence; and give him so much light and judgment amid all the darkness and confusion of his thoughts, that he may not think himself forsaken by thee; but may firmly believe, that if he does the best he can, thou requirest no more. And enable him, O Lord, to look forwards to that region of light and glory, |