thee from the beginning of the world, and grant me that, with them all, we may rejoice for ever in thy Presence! Amen.
COMMENDATION
OF THE SOUL INTO THE HANDS OF THE CREATOR.
Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
I commend it, now, O Christ, while I am well and strong, that thou mayest hold it so commended when I am able to commend it no more, though not yet loosed from its bonds. I fear for the time when I shall still be among the living, yet know not my own existence. This we see to be the case with many dying persons; they breathe, they live, yet know not that they are alive. Then, when my spirit quakes, dreading to depart, but departing at last notwithstanding from the prison which it loves, — then, if thou, its Creator, shut it out, oh, who will there be to receive it?
O Christ most patient! remember that thou, too, in thy last Agony, didst weep and complain that thou wert forsaken, commendedst thy spirit to thy Father, criedst out, and gavest up the ghost! Now it is I who cry out to thee, that thou, my Saviour, wouldst receive my spirit, let it depart from the body at whatever time or place, or by whatever disease it may.
Remember, O good Jesus, that, upon the Cross, thou didst stretch out thy Arms, open thy Breast, and bow thy Head. Behold, my soul, forsaken by all created things, seeks for refuge! It throws itself into those Arms of thine, it casts itself upon thy Breast. Receive it, I implore thee, in its wretchedness; admit it, I pray thee, to thy Bosom, and drive it not from thee till the wrath of God pass away. There let it hide in safety, secure from the ministers of hell. Into thy hands, therefore, O Lord, I commend my spirit, nay, thine, for it is thou who hast created and redeemed it. Despise not, O God, thy own work!
CHAPTER XIII.
The Method of Treating the Sick.
ESPECIALLY THE DYING.
This is too extensive and oft-treated a subject to be confined within the narrow remaining limits of the Para-
