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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 surprize 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 iniracles 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 procure 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 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 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.

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If there be time, the prayers in the foregoing offices may be added, according as they can be fitted to the present circumstances.

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; (Ecclus. xxxviii. 17, 20.) Weep bitterly, and make great moan, and use lamentations,

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as he is worthy, and that a day or two, lest thou be evil spoken of; and then comfort thyself for thy 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 No. 14.

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