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the hope of sinners is entirely founded on the mercy of GOD through CHRIST, who sealed to us this mercy by his death.

2. Have you a thankful remembrance of the death of CHRIST?

"Ye are bought with a price, therefore GLORIFY GOD in your body and in your spirit, which are GOD's."

1 Cor. vi. 20. You must be thankful, because the blessings promised in the Covenant of Grace, are so valuable, so necessary, and so freely given.

You should remember the death of CHRIST, as the means of procuring those blessings, with great gratitude and joy.

4. Are you in charity with all men? "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." 1 John iv. 11.

You must be in charity with all men; that is, love all men; forgive those who have offended you; ask forgiveness of those whom you have offended; and make restitution to any whom you may have wronged. If you harbour malice and resentment in your heart, you are not in a fit state either to live or die *.

And

It may here be asked perhaps, How can we love such as are notoriously bad, and use us very ill. I answer-We cannot but resent such usage; and God has planted in us resentment as one necessary means of preserving ourselves from farther injuries. "We may be angry, and yet sin not." Ephes. iv. 26.

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And remember, that the Sacrament is given to you on a supposition that your

faith

"We should consider such an one as diseased in his mind, and as an object rather of our compassion than of our hatred, and shew him the same compassion, as we should, if he had broken a limb, or was wounded in his body. We should moreover pray to God to heal his spiritual disease, to rescue him from the bondage of Satan, and to subdue in him the dominion of sin. We should beg of God to disp se us to a reconcileable, forgiving temper to all men, as this may qualify us for his forgiving Grace to us.

"But if it should be farther objected by the injured, that they have received such very great provocations from such or such a person, that they cannot love him, and are not in charity with him, and therefore are not in a fit state to receive the Sacrament; I hope to remove this objection by remarking that there are two sorts of Love.

"One is a Love of Complacency or Friendship, which disposes to desire and delight in the conversation of others. The other is a Love of Benevolence or Compassion, which prompts us to desire the good of others, and to endeavour on all proper occasions to promote it, even for our enemies.

"The Love of Complacency or Friendship is not due to all men, for we are to be as wise as serpents, and not to treat our enemies as our friends: This would be folly.

"But the Love of Benevolence or Good-will which prompts us to desire the welfare of all men, and to endeavour to contribute to it when we can, obliges us to be just to all mankind, and consequently to our enemies. You must be faithful in all your promises to them, and just in all your dealings with them; nor must you pretend to have the freedom

to

faith and repentance are sincere; and if this condition fail in you, the action of giving it you, though by the most exemplary Minister, and in the most solemn manner, will never save you.

After this, if the Sick Person be not too fatigued, the Minister may propose to read the following Prayers with

him;

Remember not, Lord, our Iniquities, &c. to the End of the Prayer.-Hear us, Almighty and most merciful God our Saviour, &c. as in Pages 8, 9, 10, and then the Prayer for a Sick Person who intends to receive the blessed Sacrament. O Thou infinite and eternal Spirit, &c. as in Page 85, concluding with O Saviour of the World, &c.-The Almighty Lord who, &c.-Unto God's gracious Mercy, &c. as in Pages 15 and 16.

THE END OF THE VISIT.

to falsify and tell lies, or to raise false or slanderous stories even of your enemy. Thus by a Love of Benevolence you are obliged to be in charity with all

men.

"Distinguish thus between these two sorts of Love, and all your objections against receiving the Sacrament on account of your dislike to those who use you ill, will at once be removed."-Dr. Stonhouse's Sick Man's Friend, Pages 101, 102, 105.

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¶ At

At the next Visit-the next, or any more suitable Day-the Minister may proceed to The Communion of the Sick according to the Form prescribed in The Book of Common Prayer *.

After the Minister has finished these Visits in the manner I have presumed to recommend, or in any other more agreeable to his own ideas of discharging this important duty, he will most probably feel himself disposed to continue, as the Sick Person most likely will be to receive his Visits, either till his recovery or decease; and that even if the illness should be of very long continuance. In which case the Minister may gain much information and assistance, (and I hope he will pardon me for the hint) from the authors whose names I have already had, and shall have further, occasion to mention. In Dr. Stonhouse's "Sick Man's Friend," he will find helps for conversation with the Sick under various circumstances,

* I recommend to the Sick Person, and to any other who is about to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, Bishop Wilson's "Office of the Communion, with proper Helps and Directions for joining in every Part thereof, with Understanding and Benefit." The Short aud Plain Introduction," &c. may be purchased separate from, or with the Office of the Holy Communion, &c."

In

In "the Clergyman's Companion in Visiting the Sick," and in Dr. Dodwell's "Sick Man's Companion," are much useful information, and many very excellent prayers. With such aids as these authors afford, and others whom the Minister's own judgment will lead him to consult, he will be able to continue his Visits, with great comfort to the Sick Person, and much satisfaction to himself. And if he should be desirous of consulting more writers on this subject, than I have here referred him to, he will find at the end of Dr. Stearne's "Tractatus de Visitatione Infirmorum, many valuable books enumerated, quos, says the Doctor to his reader, de modo adjuvandi infirmos possis, nisi fallor, cum fructu consulere; si, quæ levi ter in transcursu attingantur, tu fusius explicata volueris.

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