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A Prayer to be used in Seasons of much Sickness.

humbly bewail our ingratitude and forgetfulness of thy goodness; that our affections towards thee are so cold, while thy mercies to us are so abundant. Help us, O heavenly Father, earnestly to repent; and work in us a godly sorrow for all our misdeeds. It is of thy mercy that we are not consumed; in the midst of life we are in death; to whom can we fly for aid but to thee, the God of mercy, and the Father of our Savior Christ. Look with compassion upon us, and upon our country: while thy judgments are abroad in the earth, may the people of this land learn righteousness, and so turn to thee with penitence and prayer, that thou wilt turn from us all those evils which our sins have deserved. Preserve us, O thou God of mercy, from the pestilence which walketh in darkness, and from the desolating scourge now visiting the earth [our country] and approaching our borders. Remember not, Lord, our offences; spare in mercy those whom in love thou hast redeemed. From all pestilential diseases, and the sickness which destroys at noon-day, good Lord, deliver us and the inhabitants of this our country.

And we beseech thee, O God, in the plenitude of thy mercy, to behold with pity all the countries and parts of the earth which are visited with distressing sickness and prevailing mortal diseases. O stay the hand of the destroying angel, and say to the affliction, It is enough. And grant that the visitations of thy righteous providence may cause us, and all the inhabitants of the earth, to remember that the Lord ruleth, and that sickness, and pains, and death, are the dispensations of thy righteous hand, and less than our sins deserve. Awakened by thy warning voice, may we turn to thee, the Lord God of our salvation, and put our trust in thee alone. And grant that thy forbearing mercy, so long extended to this our favored country, may

A Thanksgiving for Deliverance from great Sickness and Mortality.

fill our hearts with gratitude and love. Assist us mercifully with thy heavenly grace, and dispose all our ways towards the attainment of everlasting salvation; and among all the changes, and perils, and other trials of this mortal life, direct and support us by thy most gracious and ready help, through Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Savior. Amen.

A Thanksgiving for Deliverance from great Sickness and Mortality.

ALMIGHTY and immortal God, who art the giver of all good, and whose mercy is over all thy works, we adore thee for thy great goodness, and for all the wonders which thou dost for the children of men. To thee belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have sinned against thee. Thou art patient and long-suffering, and in the midst of judgment rememberest mercy, turning from us many evils which we most justly have deserved. We render thee, O God, our humble thanks and praise, that thou deliverest thy people from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the sickness which destroyeth at noon-day. We give thanks to thee, the God of all mercy, for having preserved us, thy unworthy creatures, through the late distressing sickness and mortality, with which, for our sins, thou hast visited our land. The sorrows of death encompassed us: we called upon thee in the time of trouble; we besought thee to save our soul, and found thee gracious and merciful. Thou hast delivered our soul from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling. Though many have fallen beside us, and are now resting in their graves, our lives are yet prolonged, and we are permitted to praise thee for thy goodness. Give us grace to be

Office for the Burial of the Dead.

duly thankful for this thy great mercy, and grant that the lives which thou preservest may be devoted to thee. Help us to walk before thee in the land of the living; to take the cup of salvation; to offer thee the sacrifice of thankful hearts and hoy lives. We would pay our vows unto thee, in the sight of all thy people, acknowledging it to be of thy mercy that we are not consumed, and beseeching thee to give us grace to show our thankfulness by obedience to thy laws, and by lives devoted to thee, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and praise, world without end.

Amen.

The following Office for the Burial of the Dead is allowed to be used when the Corpse is carried into the Church.

The Minister shall begin the service by reading the following sentences of Scripture.

I AM the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. St. John xi. 25, 26.

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Job xix. 25, 26, 27.

We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 1 Tim. vi. 7.

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job i. 21.

Office for the Burial of the Dead.

The Minister may then say, Let us pray, and proceed with the General Confession.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders. Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou those who are penitent; according to thy promises declared unto mankind, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy name. Amen.

name.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Ánd lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Then likewise may be added:

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips.

Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Then shall be said the following selection from the 39th and the 90th Psalms.

Lord, let me know my end, and the number of

Office for the Burial of the Dead.

my days, that I may be certified how long I have to live.

Behold, thou hast made my days as it were a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee; and verily, every man living is altogether vanity.

For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain : he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope is in thee.

Deliver me from all mine offences, and make me not a rebuke unto the foolish.

When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a moth fretting a garment: every man, therefore, is but vanity.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears consider my calling: hold not thy peace at my

tears.

For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

O save me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen. 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

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