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 chastisements 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 consummation and bliss in Thy eternal glory, which never shall have ending. Grant this for Jesus 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 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, that at the day of Judgment we may stand at the right hand of the throne of God, and hear the blessed sentence of "Come, ye blessed Children of My Father, receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." O blessed Jesus, Thou art our Judge and Thou art our Advocate; even because Thou art good and gracious, never suffer us to fall into the intolerable pains of Hell, never to lie down in sin, and never to have our portion in the everlasting burning. Mercy, sweet Jesu, Mercy. Amen.

A Prayer to be said in the case of a sudden surprise by Death, as by a mortal wound, or evil accidents in Child-birth, when the forms and solemnities of preparation cannot be used.

O Most gracious Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, Judge of the living and the dead, behold Thy servants running to Thee for pity and mercy in behalf of ourselves and this Thy Servant whom Thou hast smitten with Thy hasty rod, and a swift Angel; if it be Thy will, preserve his life, that there may be place for his repentance and restitution: O spare him a little, that he may recover his strength before he go hence and be no more seen. But if Thou hast otherwise decreed, let the miracles of Thy compassion and Thy wonderful mercy supply to him the want of the usual measures of time, and the periods of repentance, and the trimming of his lamp; and let the greatness of the calamity be accepted by Thee as an instrument to pro

Matt. xxv. 34.

X

cure pardon for those defects and degrees of unreadiness which may have caused this accident upon Thy servant. Lord, stir up in him a great and effectual contrition; that the greatness of the sorrow, and hatred against sin, and the zeal of his love to Thee, may in a short time do the work of many days. And Thou Who regardest the heart and the measures of the mind more than the delay and the measures of time, let it be Thy pleasure to rescue the Soul of Thy servant from all the evils he hath deserved, and all the evils that he fears; that in the glorifications of Eternity, and the Songs which to eternal ages Thy Saints and holy Angels shall sing to the honour of Thy mighty Name and invaluable mercies, it may be reckoned among Thy glories, that Thou hast redeemed this Soul from the dangers of an eternal death, and made him partaker of the gift of God, eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. If there be time, the Prayers in the foregoing offices may be added, according as they can be fitted to the present cir

cumstances.

SECT. VIII.

A Peroration concerning the contingencies and treatings of our departed friends after Death, in order to their Burial, &c.

WHEN we have received the last breath of our friend, and closed his eyes, and composed his body for the grave, then seasonable is the counsel of the son of Sirach: Weep bitterly and make a great moan, and use lamentation, as he is worthy; and that a day or two, lest thou be evil spoken of; and then comfort thyself for thy

Rom. vi. 23.

heaviness. But take no grief to heart; for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself. Solemn and appointed mournings are good expressions of our dearness to the departed Soul, and of his worth, and our value of him; and it hath its praise in nature, and in manners, and public customs: but the praise of it is not in the Gospel, that is, it hath no direct and proper uses in Religion. For if the dead did die in the Lord, then there is joy to him, and it is an ill expression of our affection and our charity to weep uncomfortably at a change that hath carried my friend to the state of a huge felicity. But if the man did perish in his folly and his sins, there is indeed cause to mourn, but no hopes of being comforted; for he shall never return to light, or to hopes of restitution: therefore beware lest thou also come into the same place of torment ; and let thy grief sit down and rest upon thy own turf, and weep till a shower springs from thy eyes to heal the wounds of thy spirit; turn thy sorrow into caution, thy grief for him that is dead, to thy care for thyself who art alive, lest thou die and fall like one of the fools, whose life is worse than death, and their death is the consummation of all felicities. The Church in her funerals of the dead used to sing Psalms, and to give thanks for the redemption and delivery of the Soul from the evils and dangers of mortality. And therefore we have no reason to be angry when God hears our prayers, who call upon Him to hasten His coming, and to fill up His numbers, and to do that which we pretend to give Him thanks for. And S. Chrysostom asks,

t Ecclus. xxxviii. 17, 20, 21. u Rev. xiv. 13.
Chrysost., Hom. iv. Heb.

▾ Luke xvi. 28.

"To what purpose is it that thou singest, Return unto thy rest, O my Soul, &c., if thou dost not believe thy friend to be in rest? and if thou dost, why dost thou weep impertinently and unreasonably?" Nothing but our own loss can justly be deplored and him that is passionate for the loss of his money or his advantages, we esteem foolish and imperfect; and therefore have no reason to love the immoderate sorrows of those who too earnestly mourn for their dead, when, in the last resolution of the enquiry, it is their own evil and present or feared inconveniences they deplore: the best that can be said of such a grief is, that those mourners love themselves too well. Something is to be given to custom, something to fame, to nature, and to civilities, and to the honour of the deceased friends; for that man is esteemed to die miserable, for whom no friend or relative sheds a tear, or pays a solemn sigh. I desire to die a dry death, but am not very desirous to have a dry funeral: some flowers sprinkled upon my grave would do well and comely; and a soft shower to turn those flowers into a springing memory or a fair rehearsal, that I may not go forth of my doors as my servants carry the entrails of beasts.

But that which is to be faulted in this particular is when the grief is immoderate and unreasonable; and Paula Romana deserved to have felt the weight of S. Hierome's severe reproof, when at the death of every of her children she almost wept herself into her grave. But it is worse yet, when people by an ambitious and a pompous sorrow, and by ceremonies invented for the ostentation of their grief, fill heaven and earth with exclamations, and grow troublesome