saith St. Paul are mortal then let us not marvel if in winter there be rain frost and snow for the season brings it Let us not marvel that the night follows the day and that man at night after his labour goeth to sleep for all that is natural Also ought not we for the the same reason to be astonish'd when a man dyety no more saith St. Basil then when he is born and commeth into the world for the one and the other is Ordinary And want of considering it is cause oftentimes that at the death of our Friend we are so amazed as if it were a thing prodigious and not accustomed When news was brought to Anaxagoras that his son was dead it moved him not at all only he said that it was not a new and unusual thing that a mortal man should die and that when he begot him he did not beget him immortal What made him so constant but that before hand he had foreseen and often considered that it ought so to come to pass being a natural thing Moreover we must consider than death is a tribute which we owe and are bound to pay unto nature Thou art dust and earth and to earth thou shalt return saith God speaking to man after he had sinned Then when one of our Friends dieth why are we discontented Because he hath quitted himself and payed what he ought If he had payed his King the tribute and ordinary Tax we would approve of that as most right and an obedience and duty towards his Prince and if he hath done as much to nature what reason is there to grieve at it Again that in it God heareth us for we ask of God that his Kingdom come and that his will be done what do we jest with God asking him that which we would not have and fear to obtain and do vex our selves and murmur instead of giving him thanks when he hath granted our requests We shew well that we think little on the prayers which we make for if we thought upon them either we would not pray so or else in praying so if God grant our request we would not be sory for it Again that when our Friends die we lose them not for our Lord whose they are both before and after death is not the God of the dead but of the living Cirus speaking to his friends before his death to comfort them said Do not think when I shall be dead that I am lost or shall come to nothing When we sow a land the grains of corn are not lost they rot therein but it is the better to fructifie so are our bodies in the earth for to revive one day and to rise again in incorruption immortality and vertue When also a man goeth along and tedious journey do we think him lost When any one of our friends is at the Court with his Prince who will not suffer him to depart out of his Company raised to honour and provided of great offices are we sorry for it Why then are we sorry for a Friend whom we know assuredly to be in the House of God in honour and credit and so well at ease that he would not change for all the felicity of this world Again that it is a very unhonest and unseemly thing in a faithful man to grieve so immoderately and as if he were desperate A Christian ought to have a strength and courage which should be invincible against all adversities and even against the gates of Hell He should be like a building grounded upon a firm Rock that may hold firm against all the stormes waves and winds and all the inconveniences wherewith he may be assayled he must not be soft and yield presently to Adversity melting in Tears and therein drowning as David said his Bed The Lucians in time past had a Law by the which it was ordained that whosoever would weep for the Death of his Friend should put on Womens Cloaths to shew that it is more answering to a cowardly and esseminate Heat than to manly Courage And as it happens in Mens Bodies that when they are tender and delicate they cannot endure the cold in Winter nor yet the heat in Summer so may we judge of such Courages that if they cannot bear Adversity without Impatience no more can they prosperity without Insolency We must finally consider that by the Tears and Complaints which we use at death of our Friends we do not remedy our selves no more than doth the sick Man his Disease by his Sighs but rather doth encrease his Misery And we may say that even as by common Experience and the reports of Physicians we see in Cholerick Folks that the more they anger themselves their Rage and Choler doth augment also in the mournful and heavy People that continuing in their Tears and Lamentations their Sorrow doth grow and strengthen So said an ancient Philosopher to Arcinoe to comfort her If said he thou lovest Tears they will love thee reciprocally and as Friends will always frequent and accompany thee What then doth this great Mourning profit us if not to make us more miserable I but will some say in excusing themselves it is a natural thing to weep at such an accident I agree to it neither will I condemn a moderate Sorrow As I certain Man saw an ancient Philosopher weeping for the Death of his Son and did reprove his inconstaney he answered him very well saying Good Friend suffer me to be a Man We must not be like Barbarians or savage Beasts without Humanity without Affection without Pity nor Feeling I wish saith Pinder not to be Sick but if I am I would not be without feeling for it is an evil sign when in our Sickness we are dull and feel nothing Then when in our Mourning we shall keep the mean and shall avoid the two Extreams which St. Basil doth condemn as vitious which is that we be not Stoiks that is to say without affection nor soft on the other side to suffer our selves to be won and overcome with sorrow I do approve that if we shew our selves Men in Weeping let us also shew that we are Christians furnished with Hope in correcting and moderating our Sorrows Others say I loved them so dearly If thou lovedst him so dearly as thou sayest shew it and rejoice at his happiness and rest I rather believe that which causeth in us this great Mourning is the love which we have of our selves which is the cause that we grieve at the loss of our Friends not for the respect which we have to them but to our selves being discontens to be deprived of the Pleasure and Consolations which they gave us Which Jesus Christ said unto his Disciples Seeing that they grieved that he had told them that in short time he should be put to Death It is not for love of me that you are so heavy for if you loved me you would be glad for as much as it is my good or
not we when we shall come neer unto death that is to say to the passage beyond the which is our Country our House our city our Friends and Kinsfolks our Rest our Joy and our Pleasure The Child who during the time of his minority hath alwaies lived in fear and base servitude doth he not rejoyce when he seeth the day coming wherein he doth hope to have liberty and quietly to enjoy his goods So ought every faithful man seeing the day of his death draw near in the which he shall be put in possession of all the goods which God hath given him and the gift wholly resigned When a man that hath undertaken some long and tedious Journey having travelled many daies and being wearied on the way seeth the gate of the Town whether he goes doth he not rejoyce and as it were leap for joy Doth he not give God thanks going into the Town that it hath pleased him to conduct and bring him safely thither Now ever since we were born we have alwaies been in this world as strangers we have done nothing else but travel in this low place as in a great desert we have here wearied our selves then seeing death neer unto us that is to say the gate whereby we must enter into the Kindom of our God and the stairs whereby we must ascend unto his Holy Mountain have we not occasion to consolate our selves and to leap for joy considering that we are almost arrived at the place where we hope to rest perpetually If poor Adam being driven out of the earthly Paradise after he had tasted of the miseries whereinto he precipitates himself by his sin had been called thither again and set in his first Estate what occasion should he have had to rejoyce And we also who after so many and divers afflictions are called out by God by the means of death into no Earthly but Heavenly Paradise not Adams but Gods where there is no Sin where there is no Serpent where there is no forbidding in short where there is no fear nor shame When Noah after the flood and falling of the waters which had broken and torn all began to see the firm land he did rejoyce and for joy sacrificed to God for a thanksgiving altho' it was accursed and brought forth thornes and thistles as before What more great occasion shall we have when after the great flouds and desolations which we have in this world we shall begin to see and salute the Land of the living the blessed Land the land that was promised to the good the Land flowing with Milk and Honey and all sweet and savory things When Joseph after he had a long time been prisoner in great calamity suddenly without thinking thereon was raised to such dignity that he was next the King in Egypt making Laws and Ordinances for to dispose the State and Kingdom had not he matter of Consolation We have no less but much more when after our Prisons Captivities Servitudes Banishments and so many other afflictions which we suffer in this World we by death are in a moment lifted up from the dunghill into Heaven there to reign with Jesus Christ and to be partakers of his Glory of his Honour of his Faith of his Rest and of his Table Was it not a great joy to the Jews who had been captives three score years in Babylon amongst the Idolaters in great misery deprived of the use and benefit of spiritual things such as to assemble together to praise God and to hear his Word and to do other things appertaining to the office of a Christian weeping sometimes when they were by themselves and hanging up their Harps and Instruments through grief that they could not serve God according to their desires nor sing his praises among the strangers was it not a great joy then in these circumstances to have the Kings letters to return into their country build their Temple and there according to their ancient manner in all Liberty serve praise and worship their God and is it less to us when after a long and tedious captivity that we have endured in this world conversing with Idolaters Unbelievers Blasphemers despisers of God and of his Word we are delivered and have our pas-port to go into this celestial Jerusalem and into the holy Temple of our God there for to praise him perpetually and in beholding his goodness to glorifie and sanctifie his holy Name Death is also to be desired by reason that with out sorrows in also ends our mourning we in this world are alwaies sad heavy and melancholy In it we weep we sigh and alwaies wear the black weed But when by death we go forth of it to go into the House of our Bridegroom we put off and leave the mourning weed for to take our goodly and and sumptuous a biliments and everlasting joy shall be powred on those which have been the faithful servants of God and then shall be accomplished that which hath been promised them You that do weep in this world are happy for you shall laugh there shall be no more grief nor complaining nor tears for God at our coming into his Kingdom will wipe them away from our eyes we shall be comforted and we shall rest in Abrahams bosome as did Lazarus there shall be no other question but of singing and saying every one to our Souls Praise thou the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name So to the Harpe and other instruments Go to a wake that you may now be set up again in the estate to serve God and praise him for his goodness say to all the Church O! give thanks unto the Lord and call upon his Name O! let your songs be of him and praise him and let your talking be of all his wondrous works Say to all creatures bless the Lord in all his works praise and exalt his Name Bless God ye Angels of Heaven Sun Moon Fire Aire Water Earth Trees and Beasts A maid that hath long time been betrothed desires that the day of her Marriage were come and when it is come she rejoyceth seeing that she shall soon be brought to her Husbands House to dwell perpetually with him we ought also to comfort our selves when the time draws near that our Lord must come and we ought to attend him waking as did the five wise Virgins that so soon as he shall be come we may go in to the wedding with him and that the gate be not shut against us as it was against the five foolish because they were fallen asleep Another reason why death is to be wished for is that it causeth us to see our friend and Saviour Jesus Christ of whom we have as yet seen but the Picture The Prophets and Apostles have described him unto us so fair of such a comely Stature so Courteous so Vertuous so Loyal so Eloquent so Lovely so Noble so Rich so loving of Us that for our salvation he did
abandon his own life which ought more to move us then any other thing Where is that Person who having heard of so many perfections to be in his friend would not burn and be altogether transported with desire and affection to see him If our King or some Prince of renown comes into our Country we desire to see him because of the report which we have heard of his Vertue and Valour If Hercules Alexander the great Caesar Cato of whom we so much commend the ancient Pictures were now in this world we would through curiosity go a hundred Miles to see them with what an affection then should we aspire to that day in the which we shall face to face see and behold that so mighty Prince who with an invincible force hath broken the head of all our Enemies who like unto a valiant Josua in despite of them hath brought us through the dangers and conducted us into the land which God promised us What a pleasure shall it be to us to see him glorious and in triumphant array and round about him the goodly trophees of his great victories set up It is said that when Alexander had overcome Darius King of the Persians entring into the place where he made his residence He sits down in his Throne and that presently a Greek Grentleman of his Company began to weep for joy in speaking these words O happy day in the which we see our King victorious against the Barbarians and their pride trodden under foot O that all Greece had now the sight and the pleasure of this Spectacle Think what joy it will be also to every faithful Man to see Jesus Christ in his Royal Seat holding under his Feet all his Enemies and ours but especially the Serpent whose head is already broken and now he doth nothing else but wag his Tail waiting his sinal end which shall be at the day of Judgment Many Kings and Princes did with great affection desire to see him when he was on Earth in the form of a Servant And Simeon because he saw him so did so rejoice and was so satisfied that he feared no more to die Ought hot we more to desire to see him in Heaven in a Kingly Robe with company greatness majesty and pomp and in the state of a Lord The Queen of Sheba who being induced by the rumour which was spred over all the Earth of the great Court of King Solomon came running thither from the farthest part of the South to see him and to hear his wisdom and after she had diligently considered his great and marvellous Wisdom the order the splendor and state of his House stood all astonished and with great admiration said O how happy are the Servants of thy House who may see thy Face every day and hear thy Divine Speeches Let us say also O thrice and four times happy are the Faithful who dying go directly to Heaven to behold the Face of Jesus Christ who is greater than Solomon For the only contemplation of it makes man content in every point in taking from us the memory and feeling of all other pleasures causeth that we cannot nor will not turn our eyes and Thoughts from it Now Death doth not only cause us to see Jesus Christ but maketh us with him to behold the Angels the Patriarks the Prophets the Apostles the Martyrs which have been singular in graces and vertues And if any Man that hath a Heart towards God desires to see the Church well ordered in this World and preferreth it to all that can be given him albeit the order is never so great yet there will be many things more to be desired with what vehemence and heat then should he wish to see it in Heaven without spot or wrinkle shining like the Sun clothed in Robes as white as Snow set forth in Nuptial Order The last Reason for the which we ought to desire Death is that by it our Spirit being parted from the Body which doth clog it is more at liberty and more capable to look into the Mysteries of God We live all in this World with a natural desire to know therefore it is that for our contentment we seek always to hear and see some Novelties now is it not possible that here beneath we should come to any great knowledg chiefly of the truth as well because that of it self it is obscure and hard to know as also for the Cares Peturbations Afflictions Passions c. wherewith our mind is intangled and hindred whilst it is in our Bodies which are unto it as dust in a Man's Eye which doth hinder it from discerning any thing understandingly This is the Reason wherefore God saith unto Moses That whilst we live we cannot see it clearly for the which also S. Paul saith That we know but in part and S. John That we see the Mysteries of our god but as it were in a Glass or through a Window but when our Soul shall be parted from this Body and the vail taken away which blindeth her Eyes then shall it behold and see God Face to Face then shall it have the perfect Knowlede of him and of Jesus Christ his Son and in it Eternal Life We shall behold that which now we Worship for we shall enter into the Sanctuary of our Lord and there shall look on him without ceasing the Propitiation and the Cherubins Nothing neither of the Law nor the Gospel shall be any more unknown or hid from us God will shew unto us God will shew unto us as unto his Friends and Familiars all the Riches of his House he will talk Friendly with us and will impart all unto us An ancient Man turning from Merchandise and being entred into the Hall where Demetri IX and Phalere IX read when he had heard him a little while begins to complain and said O unhappy Man that I am have the Goods of this World been the Cause that I have been so long deprived of such good things at these Let us also say O Miserable Life will thou last much longer wilt thou not shortly let us go whither we aspire which is the School of our god Must we lose so many days Happy Death wilt thou not hasten to bring us thither We see by these Reasons what occasion we have to fear flie from and complain of Death which is a rest and sleep most delightful above all other for there is no noise nor dreams to trouble or interupt it it is a holsom Medicine which being swallowed doth heal us of all Diseases and taketh all pain from us Which Socrates considering after he had drunk the poyson by the commandment of the Athenians who had unjustly condemned him to die when the venom was dispersed in his Members and his Friend Crito a little before he gave up the Ghost had asked him if he would command him nothing no said he but that thou offer Sacrifice to Esculapi IX the God of Physiek to give him thanks for I
never took a Medicine of such great force nor which wrought better It is a great shame that these Pagans in their Ignorance and Infidelity seem to be better instructed and more vertuous then we are for we fear Death and flie from it as an evil thing and they hold and esteem it as an incomperable good Epaminondas at the hour of his Death perceiving his Friends about his Bed weeping comforted them saying Rejoice O my Friends for your Friend Epaminondas is going to begin to Live Is Death then an Evil which hath nothing else of that which we esteem Death but the Name and Reputation for indeed it is a Life Also is this life a good which hath but the Name of it for in effect it is a very Death Both the one and the other as saith Saint John Chrysostom is masked and have both false Faces Life which is so evil favoured hath the fair which maketh it to be feared and hated When it presents it self unto us so mask'd at the first it seems fearful but if we put up the mask we shall find it underneath so fair and Beautiful that presently we shall be inflamed with the Love of it Let us then take away this vain fear of Death let us believe that which is true that it is the greatest good that can happen unto us That which anciently Apollo answered to Pindar being questioned what thing he did esteem the most healthful and profitable to Man To die answered he It is said of Cleobis and Biton that God would recompence them for their piety and obedience and respect which they had born towards their Mother Now having given them leave to demand what they would they referred themselves to his Judgment as knowing best what is most profitable and necessary for us then our selves What came of it The same day they died Whereby did appear that there is nothing more profitable unto man than Death by the which we are led into a place of pleasure where we begin to live In the Old Time the Sepulchres were built in Gardens which was done not only for to bring into our minds our end in taking off our Pleasures and Delights and by that means to moderate them but also for to instruct us that Death is a Guide to Pleasure and Paradise and is as a passage for to enter into a pleasant Orchard it is the reason for the which at Athens when they buried the dead Bodies they turned their Faces towards the East and not towards the West to shew that in death our Life and Light begins Why do we put our Bodies in Sepulchres as in Chests if it be not to shew that they are not lost but layed up as precious Vessels of the Holy Ghost and that in time they shall be taken forth and shall be put into Light for the Decoration of the House of their Lord. These things considered let us take away all fear and apprehension of Death let us rejoice and sing as do the Swans when they are near their Death Let us say with David Lord I have been glad when it hath been said unto me Go to let us go into the House of our Lord. It remains now before we end this present Treatise to shew how we should behave our selves at the death of our Friends and how to mittigate the Sorrows which we conceive for them which to do we must consider that which followeth First the unavoidable necessity of all Men the which cannot be remedied neither by Counsel nor any other means David having a regard thereunto did comfort himself after the death of his little Child for whom he had we pt and prayed so much during his Sickness when there was yet some hope to impetrate of God by humble Prayers that he would restore him to Health but when he saw that it was too late that all Tears were now vain and unprofitable he left his Mourning and began to rejoice Jesus Christ saith that every day hath Afflictions enough o it self to trouble us without heaping on those of others either of those that are gone renuing it by the remembrance of them or of those which are to come anticipating by Fear and Cunjecture This is an Instruction most necessary and which we ought all to take for the rest and tranquility of our Minds Secondly we must consider when our Friends die that it is the Will of God which doth nor ordaineth nothing but for the good of his Children as saith St. Paul to those that are loved of God all things succeed and turn to their Profit If we do not believe that we are Unbelievers if we believe it we ought not to grieve for any thing that befals us for all is profitable to us Now there is no great reason that we should hide us from our Profit The Soveraign Wisdom of God is the Cause that there is nothing better done than that which he doth and his Goodness that there is nothing better If there be nothing better nor better done than that which he ordaineth and disposeth and he disposeth of us and of our Affairs and generally of all that which happeneth unto us why do we sorrow why do we desire any thing else For we cannot have any thing that is better why do we complain For all is well and cannot be better done We must thirdly think that to dye is a thing general and common to all We pass and fly away as doth the water of a Brook and it is an act and stature of our God that we must dye all if then that happen unto us which is common to all is it not a great Folly and Pride in us to desire to be exempt from the common condition and to wish for a Particular What are we the vvorse that our Friends are Dead so do those of our Neighbours die Menander Writing to a Friend of his to comfort him alleadged this reason unto him Thou shouldst have saith he just occasion to grieve if thy fortune and destiny were worse than other Mens but if it be alike why dost thou complain There are more that if we would diligently consider and make an entire comparison between us and others we should find there are an iufinite many worse fortuned than we are And that is true which Anaxagoras said as reporteth Valerius That if it were possible to assemble all the Miseries of the World on a heap and afterwards to part them by equal Portions there is not he but would rather chuse his own than his part of the whole Heap Seeing that we are not alone losing our Friends and that if we will look into it we shall find that there are enough more ill at Ease than we Let us content our selves that so it pleaseth God and let us not desire Immortal Friends where we see those of others to be but Mortal Again let us think that it is a natural thing to die as it is for winter to be cold and summer hot Our bodies
and most affectionate Children It is enough for me to be among of the least of thy House amidst the greatest sinners that have obtained pardon of thee and that have some shelter in thy Palace where there are so many Dwellings That even in thy House I may be as little as thou shalt please provided that thou wilt preserve me thine for ever O Merciful Father I beseech thee that for the love of thy well beloved Son my only Saviour thou wouldst give me thy holy Spirit which may puriâ—â—e my heart and strengthen me in such sort that I may always dwell in thy House there to serve thee in Holiness and Justice all the days of my Life Amen Prayers WHat do we in this world but heap sins upon sins So that the morrow is always worse then the day before and we do not cease drawing thy indignation upon us But being out of this world in thy heritage we shall be altogether assured of our perfect and eternal felicity the miseries of the bodies shall be abolished the vices and filthiness of the Soul shall be done away O Heavenly Father increase our Faith in us for fear lest we should doubt of things so certain Imprint thy Grace and thy Love in our Hearts which may lift us up to thee and strengthen us in thy fear And because thou hast lodged us in this World there for to remain as long as it shall please thee without declaring unto us the day of our departure the which thou alone knowest I do beseech thee to take me out of it when thou in thy mercy pleasest and then to do me that good that I may acknowledge the same that in the mean while I may fit my self thereuuto as thou hast appointed by thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen Another THis body is the Prison of the Soul yea a dark Prison narrow and fearful we are as it were banished men in this world our life is but woe and misery on the contrary Lord it is in thy heavenly Kingdom that we find our Liberty our Country and our perfect Contentment A wake our Sould by thy word to the remembrance and apprehension of such a good imprint in our Hearts the love and the desire of the Everlasting good things and only to be wished for give unto our Consciences some taste of that joy wherewith the happy Souls which are in Heaven are filled that I may hold as dung and filth all that which the Worldlings find so fair and covet so much which so obstinately they retain and do adore with such fervency Cause that finding taste but in thy verity and grace I may wait for calling upon thee the day of my perfect deliverance thro' Jesus Christ thy Son to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be glory Everlasting Amen Another O Lord Jesus the only Salvation of the Living Life everlasting of the dead I submit my self to thy holy Will whether it be thy pleasure yet to suffer my Soul to be some space within this body for to serve thee or that it please thee to take it out of prison being assured that what thou keepest cannot perish I am content with all my heart that my Body return into the Earth from whence it was taken believing the last Resurrection which shall make it immortal incorruptible and full of Glory I do beseech thee to fortifie my Sould against all temptation environ me with the buckler of thy Mercy to beat back the darts of Satan As for me I am weakness it self but I rely upon thy strength and goodness I cannot alledge any good thing before thee whereof to boast on the contrary alas my sins infinite in number accuse and torment me but thy merit assures me that I shall be saved for I hold for certain that thou wert born for me that thou wert tempted that thou hast obeyed to God thy Father that thou hast taught and brought Life Everlasting for me seeing thou hast given thy self to me with all these good things let not such a gift be unprofitable let thy blood wipe out the filth of my faults thy Justice cover my Iniquities thy Merits make me to find Grace before the heavenly Throne If my Evils do increase augment thy Grace in me so that Faith Hope and Charity may not dye but rather wax strong in me that the apprehension of Death do not daunt me but that even after this body shall be as it were dead cause that the Eyes of my Soul may lift themselves up to Heaven that the Heart may then cry fervently unto thee Lord I commend my Soul into thy Hands fulfil thy work for thou hast bought me I am thine by the Gift of thy Father to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be Everlasting Glory Amen The Humble Suit of a Sinner for the Pardon of his Sins O Most just and dreadful God equitable in all thy Judgments who sufferest no Sin to pass unpunished either in this Life or in the Life to come Let me have with Job this Consolation That afflicting me thou wouldst not spare me here to punish me hereafter Here rather burn here cut that hereafter thou mayest spare me That Union O God which thou didst put at my Creation betwixt my Soul and my Body I have not employed for to serve thee therefore I will that henceforth it be dissolved For too great affection I had to Riches and for my ill employing of them I will deny my self of all things under the Sun and will have no more but a Sheet Coffin and an hole to lye in and wait for thy Coming For the too great love I carried to my Husband Wife Children Parents Friends Companions Conversation and Company I will now willingly abandon them all and their Embracements and kindly Usage I will also have an end put to all my Senses that henceforth I neither See Hear Touch Taste nor Smell any thing for not having ruled them nor shut them up by mortification when the Devil was seeking entry into my Soul From henceforth Lord I will put silence to this wicked Tongue of mine which hath been so great an Instrument of Impiety swearing lying cursing defaming backbiting detracting and breaking forth so often in impure dishonest and injurious Speeches against thee and my Neighbour For the too great mind I had to run go and walk in the ways of the wicked For the too frequent impure postures gestures and motions of my Body I will lye dead in the Grave and desire that henceforth none do so much as name me or speak a word of me by reason I was too desirous to be in every ones mouth and to be praised and conserved in their Memories and because I did so much affect Honour Dignity and the things of the Earth and did so much search after delicate fare soft bedding and good cloathing and did nourish and pamper this flesh of mine with too great care for honour I will lye in abjection and for that I aspired to have others bowing their heads to me and to be lifted above them I will have them to trample over me For my love to the Earth I will return to it for my Food I will have the Worms to crawl in and out at my Mouth for my Bed I will have a Grave for my Garments a Sheet and for thy dainty usage of my Body I will henceforth turn all my Beauty into Corruption Receive then O just God all these things in Punishment of my many Offences for so this being thy just Will it is also mine Only O god of Justice let my Punishment be here in this Life that I may find thee to be a God of Mercy in the Life to come for thou hast declared by thy Servant David that thy Mercies are above all thy Works Grant this O Lord for the Merits of thy only Son my Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS