The Minister should not omit earnestly to move such sick persons as are of ability to be liberal to the poor.

Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special Confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which Confession, the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort.

UR Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences: And by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

And then the Priest shall say the
Collect following.

Let us pray.

MOST merciful God, who, according to the multitude of thy mercies, dost so put away the sins of those who truly repent, that thou rememberest them no more; Open thine eye of mercy upon this thy servant, who most earnestly desireth pardon and forgiveness. Renew in him, most loving Father, whatsoever hath been decayed by the fraud and malice of the devil, or by his own carnal will and frailness; preserve and continue this sick member in the unity of the Church; consider his contrition, accept his tears, asswage his pain, as shall seem to thee most expedient for him And forasmuch as he putteth his full trust only in thy mercy, impute not unto him his former sins, but strengthen him with thy blessed Spirit; and, when thou art pleased to take him hence, take him unto thy favour, through the merits of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then shall the Minister say this Psalm. In te, Domine, speravi. Psalm 71. IN thee, O Lord, have I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion: but rid me, and deliver me in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

Be thou my strong hold, whereunto I may alway resort thou hast promised to help me for thou art my house of defence, and my castle.

Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

For thou, O Lord God, art the thing that I long for thou art my hope, even from my youth.

Through thee have I been holden up

O let my mouth be filled with thy praise that I may sing of thy glory and honour all the day long.

Cast me not away in the time of age: forsake me not when my strength taileth me.

For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together, saying God hath forsaken him, persecute him, and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

Go not far from me, O God: my God, haste thee to help me.

Let them be confounded and perish that are against my soul: let them be covered with shame and dishonour that seek to do me evil.

As for me, I will patiently abide alway and will praise thee more and

more.

My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation: for I know no end thereof.

I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God and will make mention of thy righteousness only.

Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until now: therefore will I tell of thy wondrous works.

Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for to come.

Thy righteousness, O God, is very high, and great things are they that thou hast done: O God, who is like unto thee?

Glory he to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

Adding this.

SAVIOUR of the world, who by thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us, Save us, and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

Then shall the Minister say, THE Almighty Lord, who is a most strong tower to all them that put their trust in him, to whom all things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, do bow and obey, be now and evermore thy defence; and make thee know and feel, that there is none other Name under heaven given to man, in whom, and through whom, thou mayest receive health and salvation, but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

And after that shall say,

I am become as it were a monster unto many; but my sure trust is in thee.

tection we commit thee. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift

forms, Precatory; the latter Declaratory, with a special clearness and authority, to meet the special needs of the hour of sickness and approaching death. The principles, however, are exactly the same as in the other Absolutions. The priest acts ministerially in the Name of Christ who has given him power and commandment; and the benefit of Absolution can be received only by those who "truly repent and believe." (See Notes on the ABSOLUTION in MORNING SERVICE.)

(C) THE CONCLUDING SERVICE OF PRAYER.

The COLLECT (altered from the old Form, which has special reference to the foregoing Absolution) is virtually a prayer for all the benefits of God's Absolution to the penitent, given in the abundance of His mercy - as renewing what has been "decayed" by sin, preserving him in the unity of the Church, comforting his sorrow, forgiving his sin, and taking him, when his time shall come, to the heavenly kingdom.

The PSALM which follows (with its Antiphon) is taken from the old Service of Extreme Unction. Originally a Psalm of mingled entreaty and confidence at a time of danger and suffering from enemies, full of a sense of man's weakness and God's strength, it is applied here to the assaults of the spiritual enemy in the hour of suffering and death.

The prayer following is a beautiful specimen of the ancient ANTIPHON, applying the supplication of the Psalm, with special trust in the Blood of the Redeemer and Saviour of the world.

"The Almighty

The BLESSING, Lord," concluded the Service till 1662. It was composed in 1549, perhaps with some reminiscence of old forms. It invokes on the sick man a twofold gift-first, of the outward defence of the Almighty Lord, the tower of strength to all who trust in Him; and, next, of a firm inward faith in the saving Name of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Acts iv. 12).

The COMMENDATION was added in 1662, committing the sick man -in the triple formula of the old Jewish blessing (Num. vi. 2426)-to God's protection, grace, and peace.

The four singularly beautiful PRAYERS, appended to the Office, were added in 1662. The first (a), for a sick child, is an application to the case of the child of the first two Collects of the Visitation Service; (b) the second, "when there appeareth small hope of recovery," similarly applies the petitions for forgiveness and spiritual strength, found in the

same

prayers, to the special case of approaching death; (c) the Commendatory Prayer is at once a commendation of the soul to God's mercy, praying that it may be washed in the blood of Christ before it is presented before the pure eyes of God, and a prayer for ourselves that we may prepare rightly to follow; (d) the last Prayer, for those "troubled in mind or conscience," asking for the true confidence of the soul in God and in God alone, is a beautiful application to the personal need of the sufferer of the supplications and promises of Holy Scripture (see Job xiii. 26; Is. xlii. 1-8; Ps. li. 8; Rom. vi. 6).

up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, both now and evermore. Amen.

A Prayer for a sick Child.

ALMIGHTY God, and merciful Father, to whom alone belong the issues of life and death; Look down from heaven, we humbly beseech thee, with the eyes of mercy upon this child now lying upon the bed of sickness : Visit him, O Lord, with thy salvation; deliver him in thy good appointed time from his bodily pain, and save his soul for thy mercies' sake: That, if it shall be thy pleasure to prolong his days here on earth, he may live to thee, and be an instrument of thy glory, by serving thee faithfully, and doing good in his generation; or else receive him into those heavenly habitations, where the souls of them that sleep in the Lord Jesus enjoy perpetual rest and felicity. Grant this, O Lord, for thy mercies' sake, in the same thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

A Prayer for a sick person, when there appeareth small hope of recovery.

FATHER of mercies, and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need; We fly unto thee for succour in behalf of this thy servant, here lying under thy hand in great weakness of body. Look graciously upon him, O Lord; and the more the outward man decayeth, strengthen him, we beseech thee, so much the more continually with thy grace and Holy Spirit in the inner man. Give him unfeigned repentance for all the errors of his life past, and stedfast faith in thy Son Jesus; that his sins may be done away by thy mercy, and his pardon sealed in heaven, before he go hence, and be no more seen. We know, O Lord, that there is no word impossible with thee; and that, if thou wilt, thou canst even yet raise him up, and grant him a longer continuance amongst us: Yet, forasmuch as in all appearance the time of his dissolution draweth near, so fit and prepare him, we beseech thee, against the hour of death, that after his departure hence in peace, and in thy favour, his soul may be received into thine everlasting kingdom, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thine only Son, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

A commendatory Prayer for a sick person at the point of departure.

ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of just men made perfect, after they are delivered from their earthly prisons; We humbly commend the soul of this thy servant, our dear brother, into thy hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator, and most merciful Saviour; most humbly beseeching thee, that it may be precious in thy sight. Wash it, we pray thee, in the blood of that immaculate Lamb, that was slain to take away the sins of the world; that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted in the midst of this miserable and naughty world, through the lusts of the flesh, or the wiles of Satan, being purged and done away, it may be presented pure and without spot before thee. And teach us who survive, in this and other like daily spectacles of mortality, to see how frail and uncertain our own condition is; and so to number our days, that we may seriously apply our hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom, whilst we live here, which may in the end bring us to life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for persons troubled in mind or in conscience.

BLESSED Lord, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts; We beseech thee, look down in pity and compassion upon this thy afflicted servant. Thou writest bitter things against him, and makest him to possess his former iniquities; thy wrath lieth hard upon him, and his soul is full of trouble: But, O merciful God, who hast written thy holy Word for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of thy holy Scriptures, might have hope; give him a right understanding of himself, and of thy threats and promises; that he may neither cast away his confidence in thee, nor place it any where but in thee. Give him strength against all his temptations, and heal all his distempers. Break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. Shut not up thy tender mercies in displeasure; but make him to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Deliver him from fear of the enemy, and lift up the light of thy countenance upon him, and give him peace, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.