Inercy on Me

grant that I may expire the victim of penance, and in that dreadful moment, — merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my friends and relations, encircling A HAPPY DEATH. my bed, shall shed the tear of pity over me, and invoke thy clemency in my behalf, — merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When I shall have lost the use of my senses, when the world shall have vanished from my sight, when my agonizing soul shall feel the sorrows of death , — merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. 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, — merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my soul, trembling on my lips, shall 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 my mortal life, — merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When at length my soul, admitted to thy presence, shall first behold the splendour of thy Majesty, reject me not, but receive me into thy bosom, where I may for ever sing thy praises ; and in that moment, when eter- nity shall begin to me, — merciful J esus, have mercy on me. LET US PRAY.

O 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