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The Prayer.

O GOD the Father of our spirits, who hast appointed death to be the end of all men, and that after that shall come the judgment; grant that we may never be unmindful of our latter end. By the help of thy grace so fit and prepare us against the hour of death, that after our departure hence in peace and in thy favour, our souls may be received into thine everlasting kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

SERMON II.

DUTIES OF THE SICK.

ECCLES. vii. 14.

In the day of adversity consider.

As we all know assuredly that at some period or other our mortal life must be terminated by death, so we all, generally speaking, must expect during the course of our lives to be visited by sickness and disease. Indeed when we consider how fearfully and wonderfully we are made, when we reflect on the almost infinite number of parts which make up the structure of our animal bodies, upon the various tubes or channels through which nourishment is conveyed to each part, and

the multitude of nerves, and ligatures, and bones, and muscles, by which the body and its several members are supported and brought into action ;-and when we reflect farther, that a single drop of water, or a single grain of sand, may be the means of throwing the whole machine out of order, we shall be almost more surprised that we are ever well, than that we should sometimes be ill. At all events, we know by what we see and hear of in our fellow creatures, and by what we have experienced in ourselves, that sickness, of some kind or other, must in all likelihood be endured by most of us,perhaps repeatedly,-if we continue for any time to sojourn on the earth. It is therefore wise while we are yet in health to consider the duties which belong to a state of sickness. For when sickness has actually come upon us, the mind, if not enfeebled, may yet be in some measure

disturbed and distracted by the pain and uneasiness of the body; and it is desirable that we should not have our lesson then to learn, at the very time when we are called upon to bring it into practice.

One of the principal duties for which occasion is given by sickness is patience and humble submission to the will of God. For we must remember that if we suffer, it is the will of God that we should suffer. We are taught that he "ordereth all things in heaven and in earth,” that the most trifling events do not happen,"that a sparrow doth not fall to the ground,”—without his permission, that "the very hairs of our head are all numbered a." The whole spirit of the Scriptures leads us to look upon sickness, as well as all other afflictions, as being directed by the providence of God. That

a Matt. x. 29.

consideration surely ought to be sufficient to render us patient and submissive under it. We should say, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good"," became dumb, and opened not my mouth, for it was thy doing." To the will of God,

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it is our duty and our wisdom, humbly and quietly to submit. As Christians, we must learn to be "patient in tribulaIn your patience possess ye

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your souls"."

It is not indeed to be expected that we should be insensible to suffering, or that under acute anguish of body we should refrain from all expression of pain. To give way however to lamentation, or to utter frequent or loud exclamations of uneasiness, is rather the mark of a weak and unmanly spirit. Such expressions of suffering add to the distress of the friends

1 Sam. iii. 18.

xxi. 19.

Rom. xii. 12.

d Luke

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