Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the
weak hands. Thy words have upholden him who was falling, and
thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. Job iv. 3, 4.

As one condemn'd to leap a precipice,

Who sees before his eyes the depth below,

Stops short, and looks about for some kind shrub
To break his dreadful fall; so I look here

For friendly aid against the fears of death.

Dryden.

NINTH EDITION.

OXFORD,

PRINTED BY W. BAXTER,

FOR LAW AND WHITTAKER, 13, AVE MARIA LANE,

TO THE

REV. TIMOTHY STONHOUSE, M. A..

OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD,

THIS LITTLE VOLUME

IS INSCRIBED

AS A MARK OF PARENTAL REGARD,

BY HIS

AFFECTIONATE FATHER,

JAMES STONHOUSE.

In the Monthly Review for April, 1798, The Sick Man's Friend is thus noticed:

The writer of this useful manual is already known to the world as the author of several pieces on subjects of practical religion and morality, which are judiciously adapted to promote a spirit of piety among the lower classes of mankind. He speaks of this work, on account of his declining years, as his last attempt to serve the interest of religion; and both in the design and execution, it is worthy of its pious and benevolent author, and cannot fail of being highly acceptable to religious readers. It contains much excellent advice, both to the sick, and to those who attend upon them, and provides meditations and devotional exercises for persons of every character and condition, especially in a time of sickness.

Also the following Character is given of it in a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend, who permitted the insertion of it here:

There is no book I am so often reading as this. It always lies on my table; it has been my companion in travelling; it is by my bedside in sickness. I can read a little in this when I can read nothing else. It is therefore a very useful manual to me, and will be so, I apprehend, to every sincere Christian, being, as it were, the anatomy of the heart. It will furnish excellent materials for addressing the conscience, for directing any one to judge of his own spiritual state, and for conversing with others experimentally, which is the very life and soul of Christian conversation. It moreover requires to be repeatedly read with much attention, and frequent reflection, in order to become well acquainted with the va riety of important matter it contains; and it should be familiarized to the mind of every reader, till he is wrought up by it to some degree of that temper, which it was evidently designed to promote.

PREFACE

TO THE

THIRD EDITION.

THIS volume of instruction and consolation' was intended to be a spiritual assistant in health, and a faithful friend in sickness; and, as there is now a demand for another edition, I have revised it, and endeavoured, by some alterations and additions, to render it less unworthy a further reception.

In the preface to the first edition, published in March, 1788, I acknowledged, that in the course of the work I had extracted from different writers such passages, as I thought most conducive to my purpose. I observed likewise, that as my appearance in the pulpit, my attendance on the sick, and life itself, drew near a conclusion, I thought I could not employ some of my time more usefully than in such a publication, which was really much wanted, as there were but few treatises on the subject; and even these did not appear to me sufficiently to answer the ends. I wished therefore to see a design of this nature executed more fully, which I have herein attempted.