12. PRAYERS COMPOSED BY ME ON THE DEATH OF MY WIFE', AND REPOSITED AMONG HER MEMORIALS, MAY 8, 17522. Deus exaudi-Heu! April 24, 1752. Almighty and most merciful Father, who lovest those whom Thou punishest, and turnest away thy anger from the penitent, look down with pity upon my sorrows, and grant that the affliction which it has pleased Thee to bring upon me, may awaken my conscience, enforce my resolutions of a better life, and impress upon me such conviction of thy power and goodness, that I may place in Thee my only felicity, and endeavour to please Thee in all my thoughts, words, and actions. Grant, O Lord, that I may not languish in fruitless and unavailing sorrow3, but that I may consider from whose hand all good and evil is received, and may remember that I am punished for my sins, and hope for comfort only by repentance. Grant, O merciful God, that by the assistance of thy Holy Spirit I may repent, and be comforted, obtain that peace which the world cannot give, pass the residue of my life in humble resignation and cheerful obedience; and when it shall please Thee to call me from this mortal state, resign myself into thy hands with faith and confidence, and finally obtain mercy and everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 13. April 25, 1752. O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and most merciful God, in whose hands are life and death, who givest and takest away, castest down and raisest up, look with mercy on the affliction of thy unworthy servant, turn away thine anger from me, and speak peace to my troubled soul. Grant me the She had died on March 17, O. S. (March 28, N.S.) of this year. Life, i. 234. 2 The following prayers to that of April 22, 1753, are not in the Pem broke College MSS. 3 For his exhortations against unavailing sorrow, see Letters, ii. 4, n. I, 215. assistance assistance and comfort of thy Holy Spirit, that I may remember with thankfulness the blessings so long enjoyed by me in the society of my departed wife; make me so to think on her precepts and example, that I may imitate whatever was in her life acceptable in thy sight, and avoid all by which she offended Thee. Forgive me, O merciful Lord, all my sins, and enable me to begin and perfect that reformation which I promised her, and to persevere in that resolution, which she implored Thee to continue, in the purposes which I recorded in thy sight, when she lay dead before me', in obedience to thy laws, and faith in thy word. And now, O Lord, release me from my sorrow, fill me with just hopes, true faith, and holy consolations, and enable me to do my duty in that state of life to which Thou hast been pleased to call me, without disturbance from fruitless grief, or tumultuous imaginations; that in all my thoughts, words, and actions, I may glorify thy Holy Name, and finally obtain, what I hope Thou hast granted to thy departed servant, everlasting joy and felicity, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 14. April 26, 1752, being after 12 at Night of the 25th. O Lord! Governour of heaven and earth, in whose hands are embodied and departed Spirits, if thou hast ordained the Souls of the Dead to minister to the Living, and appointed my departed Wife to have care of me, grant that I may enjoy the good effects of her attention and ministration, whether exercised by appearance, impulses, dreams or in any other manner agreeable to thy Government. Forgive my presumption, enlighten my ignorance, and however meaner agents are employed, grant me the blessed influences of thy holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen2. 1 See post, p. 25, for his resolution 'to consult the resolves on Tetty's coffin.' 'Tetty or Tetsey is provincially used as a contraction for Elisabeth.' Life, i. 98. 2 Life, i. 235. 'The universal attention which has been paid to dreams in all ages, proves that the superstition is natural; and I have heard too many well-attested facts (facts to which belief could not be refused upon any known laws of evidence) not to believe that impressions are some O Lord 15. May 6, 1752. O Lord, our heavenly Father, without whom all purposes are frustrate, all efforts are vain, grant me the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, that I may not sorrow as one without hope, but may now return to the duties of my present state with humble confidence in thy protection, and so govern my thoughts and actions, that neither business may withdraw my mind from Thee, nor idleness lay me open to vain imaginations; that neither praise may fill me with pride, nor censure with discontent; but that in the changes of this life, I may fix my heart upon the reward which Thou hast promised to them that serve Thee, and that whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever are pure, whatever are lovely, whatever are of good report, wherein there is virtue, wherein there is praise, I may think upon and do', and obtain mercy and everlasting happiness. Grant this, O Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Father, &c.-The grace, &c. May 6. I used this service, written April 24, 25, May 6, as preparatory to my return to life to-morrow. Μακάριοι οἱ νεκροὶ οἱ ἐν Κυρίῳ ἀποθνήσκοντες ἀπάρτι”. 16. BEFORE ANY NEW STUDY. Apoc. xiv. 13. November. Almighty God, in whose hands are all the powers of man; who givest understanding, and takest it away; who, as it seemeth times made in this manner, and forewarnings communicated, which cannot be explained by material philosophy or mere metaphysics.' Southey. Life of Wesley, i. 359. Coleridge, in his copy of this work, wrote in the margin opposite the last line:-'Would it not have been safer to have said, “which have not been, instead of cannot be"?' 'Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.' Philippians, iv. 8. 2' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.' good good unto Thee, enlightenest the thoughts of the simple, and darkenest the meditations of the wise, be present with me in my studies and enquiries. Grant, O Lord, that I may not lavish away the life which Thou hast given me on useless trifles, nor waste it in vain searches after things which Thou hast hidden from me. Enable me, by thy Holy Spirit, so to shun sloth and negligence, that every day may discharge part of the task which Thou hast allotted me; and so further with thy help that labour which, without thy help, must be ineffectual, that I may obtain, in all my undertakings, such success as will most promote thy glory, and the salvation of my own soul, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. 17. AFTER TIME NEGLIGENTLY AND UNPROFITABLY SPENT. November 19. O Lord, in whose hands are life and death, by whose power I am sustained, and by whose mercy I am spared, look down. upon me with pity. Forgive me, that I have this day neglected the duty which Thou hast assigned to it, and suffered the hours, of which I must give account, to pass away without any endeavour to accomplish thy will, or to promote my own salvation. Make me to remember, O God, that every day is thy gift, and ought to be used according to thy command. Grant me, therefore, so to repent of my negligence, that I may obtain mercy from Thee, and pass the time which Thou shalt yet allow me, in diligent performance of thy commands, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 18. Jan. 1, 1753, N. S. which I shall use for the future. Almighty God, who hast continued my life to this day, grant that, by the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may improve the time which thou shalt grant me, to my eternal salvation. Make me to remember, to thy glory, thy judgements and thy mercies. Make me so to consider the loss of my wife, whom thou hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy grace, to lead the the residue of my life in thy fear. Grant this, O Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen1. 19. March 28, 1753. I kept this day as the anniversary of my Tetty's death, with prayer and tears in the morning. In the evening I prayed for her conditionally, if it were lawful 2. 20. Apr. 3, 1753. I began the second vol. of my Dictionary, room being left in the first for Preface, Grammar, and History, none of them yet begun. O God, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to proceed in this labour, and in the whole task of my present state; that when I shall render up, at the last day, an account of the talent Boswell in his Hebrides (Life, v. 53) says that Johnson, on starting from Edinburgh, left behind in an open drawer in Boswell's house 'one volume of a pretty full and curious diary of his life of which I have a few fragments.' He also states (ib. iv. 405):-'I owned to him, that having accidentally seen them [two quarto volumes of his Life] I had read a great deal in them.' It would seem that he had also transcribed a portion, for he says that the above entry he 'transcribed from that part of the diary which Johnson burnt a few days before his death.' 2 Life, i. 236. Following the change of style he kept the 28th instead of the 17th. For prayers for the dead and the doctrine of a middle state, see Life, i. 240; ii. 104, 162; v. 356. 'John Rolland (writes Ramsay of Ochtertyre) showed me an excerpt from one of Boswell's settlements, in which he requests the prayers of all good Christians for his soul after its departure-which, he says, may benefit it, and cannot possibly do it harm.' Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, i. 175. Hume, writing of the articles of faith decided by Convocation in 1536, says: The article with regard to purgatory contains the most curious jargon, ambiguity, and hesitation, arising from the mixture of opposite tenets. It was to this purpose:"Since according to due order of charity and the book of Maccabees and divers ancient authors it is a very good and charitable deed to pray for souls departed, and since such a practice has been maintained in the Church from the beginning; all bishops and teachers should instruct the people not to be grieved for the continuance of the same. But since the place where departed souls are retained before they reach Paradise, as well as the nature of their pains, is left uncertain by Scripture, all such questions are to be submitted to God, to whose mercy it is meet and convenient to commend the deceased, trusting that he accepteth our prayers for them.' Hist. of Eng. ed. 1773, iv. 167. committed |