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"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.

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"Though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.

"The honourable age is not that which standeth 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.

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'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.
Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father which art in heaven: hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 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; "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 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 mindful of our own, and the sense of our loss 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 rise 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 immovable 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 to 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.

ASSIST us mercifully, O Lord, in these our supplications and prayers, and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting 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.

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The Lord bless us and keep us, the Lord lift up light of his countenance upon us, and give us peace, now and for evermore. Amen.

OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND DEVOTIONS

FOR THE

Sick and Unfortunate in extraordinary 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

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