this world to serve thee, and to live according to thy laws; but we by our sins have provoked thee to wrath, and we have planted thorns and sorrows round about our dwellings: and our life is but a span long, and yet very tedious, because of the calamities that inclose us in on every side; the days of our pilgrimage are few and evil; we have frail and sickly bodies, violent and distempered passions, long designs and but a short stay, weak understandings and strong enemies, abused fancies, perverse wills. O dear God, look upon us in mercy and pity: Let not our weaknesses make us to sin against thee, nor our fears cause us to betray our duty, nor our former follies provoke thy eterual anger, nor the calamities of this world vex us into tediousness of spirit and impatience: but let thy Holy Spirit lead us through this valley of misery with safety and peace, with holiness and religion, with spiritual comforts and joy in the Holy Ghost; that when we have served thee in our generations, we may be gathered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a holy conscience, in the communion of the Catholic church, in the confidence of a certain faith, and the comforts of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope, and perfect charity with thee our God and all the world, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heighth, nor depth, nor any other creature may be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

I.

laid up till

O holy and most gracious Saviour Jesus, in whose hands the souls of all faithful people are laid the day of recompence, have mercy upon the body and soul of this thy servant, and upon all thy elect people who love the Lord Jesus, and long for his coming. Lord, refresh the imperfection of their condition with the aids of the spirit of grace and comfort, and with the visitation and guard of angels, and supply to them all their necessities known only unto thee; let them dwell in peace, and feel thy mercies pitying their infirmities, and the follies of their flesh, and speedily satisfying the desires of their spirits; and when thou shalt bring us all forth in the day of judgment, O then shew thyself to be our Saviour Jesus, our advocate, and our judge. Lord, then remember that thou hast for so many ages prayed for the pardon of those sins which thou art then to sentence. Let not the accusations of our consciences, nor the calumnies and aggravation of devils, nor the effects of thy wrath press those souls which thou lovest, which thou didst redeem, which thou dost pray for; but enable us all by the supporting hand of thy mercy to stand upright in judgment. O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us: O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have we trusted, let us never be confounded. Let us meet with joy, and for ever dwell with thee, feeling thy pardon, supported with thy graciousness, absolved by thy sentence, saved by thy mercy, that we may sing to the glory of thy name eternal hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Then may be added in behalf of all that are present, these ejaculations.

spare us a little, that we may recover our strength before we go hence and be no more seen. Amen. Cast us not away in the time of age; O forsake us not when strength faileth. Amen.

Grant that we may never sleep in sin or death eternal, but that we may have our part of the first resurrection, and that the second death may not prevail over us. Amen.

Grant that our souls may be bound up in the bundle of life; and in the day when thou bindest up thy jewels, remember thy servants for good, and not for evil, that our souls may be numbered amongst the righteous. Amen.

Grant unto all sick and dying Christians mercy and aids from heaven, and receive the souls returning unto thee, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood. Amen.

Grant unto thy servants to have faith in the Lord Jesus, a daily meditation of death, a contempt of the world, a longing desire after heaven, patience in our sorrows, comfort in our sicknesses, joy in God, a holy life, and a blessed death; that our souls may rest in hope, and my body may rise in glory, and both may be beautified in the communion of saints in the kingdom of God, and the glories of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Blessing.

(Heb. xiii. 20, 21.) Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that

great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Doxology.

(1 Tim. vi. 15, 16.) To the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

After the sick man is departed, the minister, if he be present, or the major domo, or any other fit person, may use the following prayers in behalf of themselves.

I.

Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, we adore thy majesty, and submit to thy providence, and revere thy justice, and magnify thy mercies, thy infinite mercies that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our brother out. of the miseries of this sinful world. Thy counsels are secret, and thy wisdom is infinite: With the same hand thou hast crowned him, and smitten us, thou hast taken him into regions of felicity, and placed him among the saints and angels, and left us to mourn for our sins, and thy displeasure, which thou hast signified to us by removing him from us to a better, a far better place. Lord, turn thy anger into mercy, thy chastisement into virtues, thy rod into comforts, and do thou

give to all his nearest relatives comforts from heaven, and a restitution of blessings equal to those which thou hast taken from them. And we humbly beseech thee of thy gracious goodness shortly to satisfy the longing desires of those holy souls who pray, and wait, and long for thy second coming. Accomplish thou the number of thine elect, and fill up the mansions in heaven which are prepared for all them that love the coming of the Lord Jesus; that we, with this our brother, and all others departed this life in the obedience and faith of the Lord Jesus, may have our perfect consum→ mation and bliss in thy eternal glory, which never shall have ending. Grant this Jesus for Christ his sake our Lord and only Saviour. Amen.

II.

O merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus, who is the first fruits of the resurrection, and by entering into glory hath opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, we humbly beseech thee to raise us up from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that being partakers of the death of Christ, and the followers of his holy life, we may be partakers of his spirit and of his promises; that when we shall depart this life, we may rest in his arms, and lie in his bosom, as our hope is this our brother doth. O suffer us not for any temptation of the world, or any snares of the devil, or any pains of death, to fall from thee. Lord, let thy holy spirit enable us with his grace to fight a good fight with perseverance, to finish our course with holiness, and to keep the faith with constancy unto the end;