without any body to administer consolation unto me, and to strengthen me in the faith of my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, but every thing round about me adds to my affliction, and increases my sorrows. I am here among the adversaries of thy truth, who labour to destroy my interest in Christ, and to shipwreck my soul in the very port of eternity. I have not only death to encounter, but hell itself, and all the fury of the infernal spirits. O Almighty and most merciful God, suffer me not to lose my courage, and to sink under the present temptation. By thine adorable providence, and out of thine abundant mercy, supply all my wants and infirmities, and grant that I may with the shield of faith, quench all the fiery darts of Satan. I am surrounded with many visible and invisible enemies; but they that are for me are more in number than those that are against me. I am far from my native country; but I am not for that reason the further from heaven, of which all this earth is but the centre. I am at a distance from all my relations and friends; but nothing can set me at a distance from thee, O God of mercies, who lovest me with an unchangeable love. I am in the embraces of my heavenly Father and my God. I have no minister to assist me in these my last moments; but I know, that thou wilt send me thy holy angels, as once to thy beloved Son, in his bitter agony. Thou who art the shepherd of my soul, wilt administer consolation unto me; thy staff and thy crook shall support me through this valley of the shadow of death. O Lord, thou dost mighty things, which are not to be searched out, and so many wonders, that it is not possible to number them. Thy grace is sufficient for me, and thy power is made gloriously manifest in mine infirmities. Thy Holy Spirit, who is the true comforter, and the great power of the Almighty, shalt comfort me in these mine afflictions, and make me in all things more than conqueror. Thou art stronger than all other beings; so that nothing can snatch me out of thy hands, I am certain, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor

things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature whatever, can separate me from the love which thou hast declared to me in Jesus Christ, my Lord. This precious faith, with which thou hast armed my soul, shall vanquish the world, triumph over hell, and destroy death itself. Amen.

PRAYER AND MEDITATION,

Upon the death of any beloved Person.

O MY God, I acknowledge that there is nothing sure and unchangeable on earth, but thy holy precious promises; and that therefore we ought to enjoy the things of this world as if we enjoyed them not. Thou hast snatched from my arms, and plucked from my bosom, the person that was dearest to me, and the most nearly allied to my soul. Thou hast cleft my heart, and torn out my bowels. Thou hast separated me from myself, so that my life is become a burden unto me. I considered this object of my love as thy gift from heaven, and a mark of thy favour and liberality; it was my greatest joy and my sweetest consolation: the day that depriv ed me of it, overwhelmed me with sorrow, and plunged me into a sea of bitterness; but that which increases my grief, and redoubles all my torment, is, I am afraid that this stroke is an effect of thine anger and just vengeance. O Lord my God, I must needs have offended thee in a most grievous manner, seeing thou chastisest me with so much severity, and makest me feel so sharp an affliction. I am unworthy of all thy favours, since thou has taken from me such a precious jewel, which was shewn to me as lightning, so quickly it passed away. I fear I have been wanting in my duty, and that this death that destroys me is the effect of my own blindness: methinks I might have prevented this terrible accident; and that, if I had behaved myself otherwise than I have done, my life had not been enclosed in the grave. O God of mercies, pardon my excessive sorrow, calm my sighs, and

stop the current of my tears. Remove from me all these vain cares that prey upon my heart, and all these disquiets that consume me : deliver my soul from this cruel rack, on which it torments itself, and from these troubles that are more than the weakness of human nature can bear. Instead of looking at second causes, and the circumstances of the death of this beloved person, give me grace to remember that the least things, as well as the greatest, are directed and governed by thy wise providence; and that both good and evil proceed from thy di vine appointment. Let me never forget that thou holdest in thine almighty hand the keys of life and death; and that it is thou alone who sendest down to the grave, and raisest up from thence again. O Sovereign Monarch of the Universe, thou not only givest the reins to death, but thou likewise governest and appointest all the means by which it removes us from the world. Let me therefore lay my finger upon my lips, because it is thy doing; or, if I open them, let it be to adore thy justice, and show forth thy praise. The person I lament was very near and dear to me, even like another self; but he (or she) was also thy creature, thy child, and a member of the mystical body of thy beloved Son. We believe, that we have a right to dispose of our workmanship, and that of which we have bought with our money; and shalt not thou, O God, dispose at thy pleasure of that which thou hast created after thy likeness, and bought, not with corruptible things, as with gold and silver, but with the precious blood of the Lamb without spot or blemish? Thou hast an only Son, who is the brightness of thy glory, and the express image of thy godhead, whom thou hast not spared for me; and shall I, Lord, refuse thee my heart and my bowels? Thy beloved came down upon the earth to suffer a most cruel and ignominious death upon the cross; but thou hast taken up into heaven the person whom my soul loved, to crown him (or her) with a glorious and ever-blessed immortality. Shall his (or her) felicity, therefore, be the cause of my affliction? and shall his (or her) rest be the

subject of my disquiet? It is the property of true love to prefer the happiness of the beloved person to our satisfaction wherefore our Saviour told his apostles, If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than I, John xiv. 28. Between thee, O great and living God, and us miserable worms of the earth, there is an infinite distance; and all our most chaste and innocent pleasures in this life are no more than a drop of water that is dried up with the least breath of wind, when compared with that inexhaustible sea of delights which we shall enjoy in thy presence. I weep for him (or her) whose tears thou hast wiped away. I put on a mourning habit and wear a black scarf for him, (or her) whom thou hast clothed with robes of joy, and adorned with a scarf more white than snow, and more resplendent than the sun. I delight in darkness, while he solaces himself at the fountain of light. I seek a solitary and melancholy retreat, while he rejoices amongst the thousands of angels, and the glorious company of immortal spirits. I sigh without ceasing, and he sings a new song, the song of the blessed, which is always in his mouth. All my complaints and groans cannot bring him back upon earth: and was it possible, it would be unjust to attempt it: such chaFity would be cruel, such love most barbarous. How could I resolve to make him leave the heaven of eternal felicity, to expose him again to the furious storms of this tempestuous world; to make him descend from the car of triumph, the magnificent throne to which thou hast exalted him, to engage him in new conflicts, and load him with new chains? Could I strip him of his robes of light and glory, to cover him with darkness, and clothe him with our infirmities? Could I be so inhuman as to take him from a river of delights to plunge him in a sea of bitterness? to take from him the bread of thy kingdom, and the fruits of the tree of life, to feed him with the bread of affliction and the bitter fruits of mortality? Could I have the heart to snatch him from thy bosom, the breasts of eternal comfort, and the fullness

of joy which he possesses in thy presence, to fold hin again in our helpless arms, to make him suck the venom of our misfortunes, and to overwhelm him with grief, and uneasiness? In a word, could I be so senseless as to wish him unbound from the bundle of life, to be the sport of death? He is passed from death to life, and would I have him pass back again from life to death? He is passed from misery to happiness, and would I bave him return from happiness to misery? We shall go to him, but he will not come back to us. Therefore, since life is short, and passes away as a thought, it will not be long before we shall behold each other again in the light of the living.

O Lord, how wonderful are thy works, how magnificent are all thy ways, and how unsearchable is thy wisdom! I acknowledge, that what thou hast done is not only for thy glory, and for the advantage of this happy creature whom thou hast taken into thine eternal rest, but also for my good, and the instruction of all my friends. In taking of him (or her,) who was all my joy, my comfort, and my only hope, thou wouldest make trial of my obedience and my faith, as heretofore thou makest trial of the Father of the Faithful, when thou requirest of him his only son Isaac, in whom thou hadst promised that all the families of the earth should be blessed. But, O Lord my God, to the praise of thy mercy and sovereign goodness, I must own that my trial is nothing like so severe as his: for thou commandest Abraham to sacrifice his son with his own hands, to pour out his blood before thee, and to reduce his body to ashes; but thou requirest no sacrifice from me but that of my obedience and submission to thy holy will, that I may say with the High Priest Eli, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good; and with thy servant Job, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Thou hast plucked up the root which fastened me strongly to the earth, and hast cut asunder the beloved band which bound me to the world, in order to lift up my heart and