down all the powers of my soul to thee.

Lord, I desire to praise thee for ever, in sickness as well as in health; I desire to join my heart and voice with the whole Church of heaven and earth, in blessing thee for ever.

I give thee thanks from the bottom of my heart for all the mercies and blessings bestowed upon me, and thy whole Church, through Jesus Christ thy Son; and above all, for having loved me from all eternity, and redeemed me with his precious blood. Oh! let not that blood be shed for me in vain.

Lord, I believe all those heavenly truths which thou hast revealed, and which thy holy Catholic Church believes and teaches Thou art the Sovereign Truth, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived; and thou hast promised the Spirit of Truth to guide thy Church into all truth. "I believe in God the Father Almighty," &c. In this faith I resolve, through thy grace, both to live and die. O Lord, strengthen and increase this my faith.

O my God, all my hopes are in thee; and through Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, and through his passion and death, I hope for mercy, grace,

and salvation from thee. In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust! oh, let me never be confounded.

O sweet Jesus, receive me into thine arms in this day of my distress; hide me in thy wounds, bathe my soul in thy precious blood.

I love thee, O my God, with my whole heart and soul, above all things; at least I desire so to love thee. Oh! come now and take full possession of my whole soul, and teach me to love thee for ever.

I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.

Oh! when will thy kingdom come? O Lord, when wilt thou perfectly reign in all hearts? When shall sin be no more?

I desire to embrace every neighbour with perfect charity for the love of thee. I forgive from my heart all who have in any way offended or injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have in any way offended.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out mine iniquity.

Oh! who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to mine eyes, that night and day I may weep for all my sins.

Oh that I had never offended so good a God. Oh! that I had never sinned. Happy those souls that have always preserved their baptismal in

nocence!

Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner; sweet Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me.

I commend my soul to God my Creator, who made me out of nothing; to Jesus Christ my Saviour, who redeemed me with his precious blood; to the Holy Ghost, who sanctified me in baptism. Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

I renounce from this moment, and for all eternity, the devil and all his works; and I abhor all his suggestions and temptations. Oh! suffer not, O Lord, this mortal enemy of my soul to have any power over me, either now or at my last hour. Oh! let thy holy angels defend me from all the powers of darkness.

Holy Mary, pray for me.

Holy Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, do thou defend me from the enemy, and receive me at the hour of death.

O holy Angel of God, who art my guardian, stand by me and assist me. O all ye blessed Angels and Saints of God, pray for me, a poor sinner.

(G,

H

Litany for a Happy Death.

LORD Jesus, God of goodness and Father of mercies, I approach to thee with a contrite and humble heart; to thee I recommend the last hour of my life, and the decision of my eternal doom.

When my feet, benumbed with death,
shall admonish me that my mortal
course is drawing to an end,

When my eyes, dim and troubled at the
approach of death, shall fix themselves
on thee, my last and only support,
When my face, pale and livid, shall in-
spire the beholders with pity and dismay:
when my hair, bathed in the sweat of
death, and stiffening on my head, shall
forebode my approaching end,

When my ears, soon to be for ever shut
to the discourse of men, shall be open to
hear the irrevocable decree which is to
cut me off from the number of the living,
When my imagination, agitated by dread-
ful spectres, shall be sunk in an abyss of
anguish; when my soul, affrighted with
the sight of my iniquities and terrors of
thy judgments, shall have to fight against
the angel of darkness, who will endea-
vour to conceal thy mercies from my
eyes, and to plunge me into despair,
When my poor heart, exhausted by its
frequent struggles, shall feel the pangs
of death,
When the last tear, the forerunner of my
dissolution, shall drop from my eyes, re-
ceive it as a sacrifice of expiation for
my sins; grant that I may expire the
victim of penance, and in that dreadful
moment,
When my friends and relations, encircling
iny bed, shall shed the tear of pity ever

Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.

me, and invoke thy clemency in my behalf, When I shall have lost the use of my senses; when the world shall have vanished froin my sight; when my agonising soul shall feel the sorrows of death, When my last sigh shall summon my soul to burst from the embraces of the body, and to spring to thee on the wings of impatience and desire,

When my soul, trembling on my lips, shal! bid adieu to the world, and leave my body lifeless, pale, and cold, receive this separation as a homage which I willingly pay to thy divine Majesty, and in that last moment of iny mortal life,

When at length my soul, admitted to thy presence, shall first behold with terror thy awful Majesty, reject me not, but receive me into thy bosom, where I may for ever sing thy praises, and in that moment, when eternity shall begin to me,

Let us pray.

Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.

GOD, who hast doomed all men to die, but hast concealed from all the hour of their death, grant that I may pass my days in the practice of holiness and justice, and that I may deserve to quit this world in the peace of a good conscience, and in the embraces of thy love: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Short Exercise in preparation for Death, which may be used every day.

MY Y heart is ready, O God, my

heart is ready; not my will, but thine be done. O my Lord, I