pleasure. If thy divine Providence has ordained for me a very hard struggle and sharp agonies of death, thy will be done. My heart is ready, O God; but preserve and increase within me the faith and hope of thy presence, goodness, and mercy; and forsake me not, O God, my Saviour, as thy Father forsook not thee! Send to me also,
I pray, thee, thy holy Angel,
to support and strengthen
me in that agony with his
consolations, and to drive far
from me all the power of the
enemy; until, the conflict
over, I rejoice with triumph,
and merit to obtain of thee the
crown of life which thou hast
promised to them that love
thee and persevere to the
end. Amen.
CHAPTER XI.
Protestations to be made very often,
AND MOSTLY BEFORE DEATH, BY ONE WHO DESIRES TO LIVE AND DIE LIKE A CHRISTIAN.
I.
First, I protest that, with all readiness of soul, I accept from the divine Providence this and all other crosses and diseases whatsoever, and even death itself; most fully submitting my own will to the divine Will; and acknowledging myself to be most deserving, for my numberless sins, not only of this affliction, infirmity, and death, but also of every other more heavy punishment, and even of hell itself.
I accept, moreover, this sickness and death in reverence of the most holy Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; uniting the pains, troubles, and afflictions which I suffer to the afflictions, troubles, and most bitter agonies which he endured in his Life, Passion, and Death; and humbly entreating him to vouchsafe to accept them in lieu of the pains which I acknowledge to be due to me in Purgatory for the punishment of my numberless sins, and so for the remission of my faults, especially those which weigh most upon my conscience, and which I now wish had been confessed with greater care, and obliterated by a more earnest satisfaction.
II.
I protest that, as I have lived hitherto in the true Faith of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and have most firmly believed whatsoever she has believed and proposed to me to be believed, and in particular the articles of the Apostles'
