# The paradise of the Christian soul/Chap. VIII. Litany adapted to the Healthy, the Sick, and the Dying.

PART VII.
SECTION II.
Exercises for a Good and a Happy Death.
TO THE GOOD READER.
The second Section of this last Part is intended to furnish various prayers and exercises for a happy death, suitable and profitable alike to the healthy, the sick, and the dying. Let none, then, despise or neglect them, as if they had no relation to themselves, but only to those who happen to be sick, or at the point of death.
But know rather that it is safest in health to begin to be conversant with practices by which it is thy wish to profit “in illness, and in death itself.
For it is they who take pleasure in such exercises when well, who will derive the most fruit from them when they are ill and dying. But it may be feared that those who disdain them when well and strong, will feel very little relish for them at the time of their death.
Therefore, read and meditate very frequently on these subjects. Nay, more, die occasionally whilst thow art yet alive ; assume, that is, in some degree the character of a dying man, whilst thy powers of body and mind are still unimpaired. Do what thou wilt do, or wilt wish done for thee, when at the point of death, What man has loved and cheerfully practised during life will, doubtless, readily recur to him when he ts going to die. But the remedies which have been little heeded or remembered tn prosperity will not be ready at hand in the time of need. The first edition of the Paradise contained in this place some very holy exercises, extracted from the sweet Soliloquies of Thomas &@ Kempis, for the healthy as well as the sick, most proper for lessening the love of their present life, and for quickening the desire of the life to come. But in this edition it has been thought proper to omit because I have lately published that little work, illustrated with notes, together with other very choice pieces by the same author in the ​Viator Christtianus, to which the good reader is referred for them.
ADMONITION.
What a Christian is to do when attacked by disease.
When first taken illy lose no time in receiving thy sickness from the Lord's hand, and thank him for visiting thee as a Father visits his son. Nay more, offer thyself up for worse; throw thyself entirely and trustfully into the hands of his Divine Providence, and place not thy confidence in the physiciant the hurtfulness of which to King Asa is recorded in Holy Scripture.
Let a physician, however, be employed, especially for the soul, that is, thy Confessor. For the health both of body and soul is to be provided for with the remedies proper to each; but that of the soul the more in proportion, as it is worse for the soul than for the body to perish.
Moreover, they who love the health of the body should hold nothing dearer than the care of the soul. For the body is often affected by the sins which are the ailments of the soul; and it is through the Providence of God that our limbs are seized with diseases, by reason of the bad passions which affect our souls. First, then, we must put these to flight, and thus we shall expel the more easily the maladies of the body, or (what is equally desirable) bear them with greater profit to the soul.
This method of cure was taught us by our Supreme Physician himself, whose manner it teas, in proceeding to heal the sick, to postpone the necessities of the body to those of the soul.
Let us act as he did, and while we strive to be healthy in body, look first to the health of the soul. But, oh, how stupendous is the stake, where the issue lies between a life that is momentary and a life that is eternal. In the case of the one, we never act otherwise than with earnestness and despatch; in that of the other, we scarcely act at all, and Mien with procrastination and wavering. If thou art wise, dear Christian, let thy first act, when attacked by disease, be to draw near to God, and be reconciled to him. He will either make thy subsequent cure efficacious to the health of thy body, or else the disease, and even death itself, efficacious to the health of thy soul.
CHAPTER VIII.
Litany
ADAPTED OUT OF HOLY SCRIPTURE TO THE HEALTHY, THE SICK, AND THE DYING.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.
Who hast made man to thy own image and likeness,
Who hast breathed into man’s face the breath of life,
Who broughtest forth in the midst of Paradise the Tree of Life against the death of the body,
Who, when our first parents were become guilty of death, didst set up the Seed of the Woman against the Serpent’s malice,
Who hast not left mankind comfortless
and helpless, when made subject by sin to manifold miseries, diseases, and death,
Who, when all the first-born of Egypt were destroyed in one night, didst preserve the Israelites unhurt,
Who, for the sin of unbelief, didst cause
Moses and Aaron to die out of the Promised Land,
Who, by the sight of the brazen Serpent, didst deliver the people that were bitten by the fiery serpents,
Who, for their too curiously looking into the Ark, didst destroy with death more than fifty thousand of the Bethshamites,
Who, for the numbering of the people by David, didst carry off by a three days’ pes​tilence seventy thousand of the men of Israel, Have mercy on us, 2 Kings xxiv.
| Who, having pity on the affliction of the people, didst call back the destroying angel from slaying them, | Ibid. |
| Who, at the prayers of the prophet Elias, didst recall the dead child to life, | 3 Kings xvii. |
| Who punishedst King Ochozias with death for consulting idols about his health, | 4 Kings i. |
| Who, by the prophet Eliseus, didst restore to life the Sunamitess' son, | 4 Kings iv. |
| Who, by Eliseus, didst heal Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy, | 4 Kings v. |
| Who, by the bones of Eliseus, didst recall the dead man to life, | 4 Kings xiii. |
| Who didst visit King Asa with a premature death, for trusting in physicians rather than in God, | 2 Par. xvi. |
| Who, when Ezechias prayed to thee with tears in his sickness, didst deliver him from death and disease, | Isa. xxxviii. |
| Who didst strengthen Job with wonderful patience whilst Satan had brief permission to afflict him, | Job i. &c. | Have mercy on us. |
| Who rebukest by sorrow in the bed, and makest a man’s bones to wither, | Job xxxiii. |
| Who wouldst have Tobias tried with the affliction of blindness, to give to posterity an example of patience, | Tobias ii. |
| Who hast created the physician and countless remedies for the necessity of men, | Ecc. xxxviii. |
| Who madest not death, and hast no pleasure in the destruction of the living, | Wisd. i. |
| Who wast sent to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and to comfort all that mourn, | Isa. lxi. |
| Who didst dismiss Simeon, an old and a just man, out of this world in peace, when he had seen the Messiah, | Luke ii. |
| Who didst heal the ruler’s son at Capharnaum, | John iv. |
| Who, with a word, didst heal the man who had been under his infirmity eight and thirty years, | John v. |
| Who didst heal Peter’s wife’s mother, when taken with a great fever, | Luke iv. |
| Who didst all things well, making both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, | Mark vii. |
| Who wert intimate with publicans and sinners, saying, They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are sick, | Matt. ix. |
| Who didst cure the paralytic who lay on a bed, and was let down through the roof, | Luke v. |
| Who didst heal the woman who had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered much from physicians, | Luke viii. |
| Who gavest the blessing of sight to many blind, | Matt. ix. |
| Who, by a sign alone, didst cleanse many lepers from their leprosy, | Matt. viii. x. |
| Who didst raise the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, from death to life, | Matt. ix. |
| Who didst restore to perfect health the woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, | Luke xiii. |
| Who didst deliver the lunatic who was miserably afflicted by the devil, | Matt. xvii. | Have mercy on us. |
| Who didst cure in thy absence the Centurion’s servant who was sick, | Matt. viii. |
| Who didst restore alive to his widowed mother her only son after his death, | Luke vii. |
| Who didst deliver the daughter of the woman of Chanaan, when sore troubled by a devil, | Matt. xv. |
| Who didst raise Lazarus again to life when he had been buried four days, | John xi. |
| Who didst cure all who were sick, lunatic, palsied, and dropsical, and seized with various diseases and torments, |
| Who, when sorrowful even to death, didst, in thy agony, sweat Blood, | Luke xxii. |
| Who, in praying that the chalice of thy Passion and Death might pass from thee, didst yet submit thy own to thy Father’s will, | Ibid. |
| Who didst promise a portion in thy kingdom to the robber who was crucified with thee, | Luke xxiii. |
| Who for us wert made obedient to God the Father unto death, even the death of the Cross, | Phil. ii |
| Who, in dying, didst commend thy spirit into the hands of the eternal Father, | Luke xxiii. |
| Who, after bowing thy head, and crying with a loud voice, gavest up the ghost, | John xix. |
| Who, through death, didst destroy him who had the empire of death, | Heb. ii. |
| Who wert wounded for our iniquities and bruised for our sins, | Isa. liii. |
| Who didst bear our infirmities and carry our sorrows, | Isa. liii. |
| Who art wont to send diseases and pestilence for sins, | Ezech. xxviii ; Deut. xxviii. |
| Who often sendest diseases and corporal afflictions, not for sin, but to manifest the glory of God, | John ix. & xi. |
| Who chastisest and scourgest those whom thou lovest, | Heb. xii. |
| Who hast frequently punished irreverent treatment of thy holy Mysteries with infirmity and untimely death, | 1 Cor. xi. | Have mercy on us. |
| Who, by Peter’s shadow, didst free many from infirmity, | Acts v. |
| Who, by the handkerchiefs and aprons of Paul, didst cure many that were sick, | Acts xix. |
| Who, by thy Apostles, didst give life to the dead, and various cures to the sick, | Acts ix. &c. |
| Who hast wiped away all tears from the eyes of thy Elect, | Apoc. vii. |
| The Lord, who has power of life and death, | Wisd. xvi. |
| The Lord, the Protector of our life, | Ps. xxvi. |
| Father of Mercies, and God of all consolation, who comfortest us in all our tribulation, | 2 Cor. i. |
| God, who art faithful, and wilt not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able, but makest, with the temptation, issue, that we may be able to bear it, | 1 Cor. x. |
| Who woundest and curest, who strikest, and thy hand shall heal, | Job v. |
| Who wilt have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, | 1 Tim. ii. |
| Who killest and makest alive, who bringest down to hell, and bringest back again, | 1 Kings ii. |
| Who wilt come to judge the living and the dead, | 2 Tim. iv. |
| Be merciful, O Lord, and spare us. |
| From all the pains of sickness, Deliver us, O Lord. |
| From a sudden, unforeseen, and evil death, |
| By the pain and anguish of thy Circumcision, | Luke ii. |
| By the pains of death which surrounded thee in the garden, when thy Passion was at hand, | Luke xxii. |
| By the earnestness of thy love, with which thou didst carry our sorrows, and, with thy bruises, heal our infirmities, | Isa. liii | Deliver us, O Lord. |
| By the anguish of thy heart upon the Cross, when thou criedst out that thy Father had forsaken thee, | Matt, xxvii. |
| By that sword of sorrow which pierced the heart of thy most dear Mother at thy Passion, | Luke ii. |
| We sinners, Beseech thee, hear us. |
| That we may esteem ourselves strangers and sojourners upon the earth, | Ps. xxxviii. |
| That having here no permanent city, we may the more fervently seek one to come, | Heb. xiii. |
| That, amid so many storms and perils of life, we may hasten to enter into the rest which we hope for in heaven, | Heb. iv. |
| That our momentary and light tribulation may work for us an eternal weight of glory, | 2 Cor. iv | We beseech thee, hear us. |
| That we may not reject the discipline of the Lord, nor be wearied whilst we are rebuked by him, | Heb. iv |
| That we may accept all that is laid upon us, and have patience in sorrow, | Ecclus. ii. |
| That in all our diseases and afflictions we may speak no foolish thing against the Lord, | Job i. |
| That as we have received good things at the hand of the Lord, so too we may cheerfully bear the evil, | Job ii. |
| That, according to the multitude of sorrows in my heart and in my body, thy comforts may give joy to my soul, | Ps. xciii. |
| That, as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also by Christ our comfort may abound, | 2 Cor. i. |
| That we may always bear about in our body the dying of Jesus Christ, | Ibid. iv. |
| That looking on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith, who having joy proposed to him, underwent the Cross by patience, we may run to the fight proposed to us, | Heb. xii. |
| That Christ may be magnified in our body, whether it be by life or by death, | Phil. i. |
| That Christ having suffered for us in the flesh, we may also be armed with the same thought, | 1 Pet. iv. |
| That we may by no means spend idly this acceptable time, and this day of salvation, | 2 Cor. vi. |
| That we may recount to thee all our years in the bitterness of our soul, | Isa. xxxviii. |
| That being uncertain of the coming of death and of our Judge, we may take order for our house in time, | Ibid. |
| That being delivered from the hands of our enemies, we may serve thee without fear, in holiness and justice all our days, | Luke i. |
| That we may desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, | Phil. i. |
| That thou wouldst vouchsafe to turn and smooth all our couch in our sickness, | Ps. xl. | We beseech thee, hear us. |
| That all bodily sickness and ills may work together to good to them that love God, | Rom. viii. |
| That being cured by thy grace of our diseases, we may sin no more, lest some worst thing happen to us, | John v. |
| That by putting on the armour of God, we may be able to resist in the evil day, and extinguish the fiery darts of the most wicked one, | Eph. vi. |
| That as in Adam we all die, so in thee we may all be made alive, | 1 Cor. xv. |
| That whether we live, we may live to the Lord, or whether we die, we may die to the Lord, | Rom. xiv. |
| That neither life nor death, nor any other creature, may be able to separate us from Christ, | Rom. viii. |
| That to us to live may be Christ, and to die gain, | Phil. i. |
| That though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I may fear no evils, for thou art with me, | Ps, xxii. |
| That, strong in faith, we may resist in our last agony the roaring lion, | i Pet. v. |
| That we may die the death of the just, and that our last end may be like to theirs, | Num. xxi. |
| That thou wouldst enlighten my eyes, that I may never sleep in death, lest at any time my enemy prevail against me, | Ps. xii. |
| That thou wouldst deliver us from the body of this death, | Rom. vii. |
| That thou wouldst bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy Name, | Ps. cxli. | We beseech thee, hear us. |
| That thou wouldest gladden us when we die, like the good thief, with thy most sweet promise, and with the expectation of thy kingdom, | Luke xxiii. |
| That thou wouldst not enter into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight no man living shall be justified, | Ps. cxlii. |
| That thou wouldst not deal with us according to our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities, | Ps. cii. |
| That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, | Ps. xxvi. |
| That when our earthly house of this habitation is dissolved, we may have a house not made with hands in Heaven, | 2 Cor. v. |
| Lamb of God, who takest away the sins, &c. |
Let us pray.
O God, who, by the patience of thy only-begotten Son, hast broken the pride of our ancient enemy, grant us, we beseech thee, worthily to remember what he suffered for us, and so, by his example, to bear patiently all adversities.
O God, the most bountiful Creator, and most merciful restorer of mankind, who when, by the malice of the devil, man was cast down from eternal happiness, didst redeem him by the precious Blood of thy only-begotten Son; give to us, thy servants, life by the power of thy grace, and to us who are fallen stretch forth thy saving hand; fill us with joy of heart and gladness of spirit; drive away from us all the snares of the enemy, and send us to the saving Physician, the Angel of Peace, by thy comforts to relieve us from our distress, and by present aid to enable us to attain hereafter to the eternal rewards.
O God, by whose appointment passes each moment of our ​life, receive the prayers of us who humbly cry to thee, that, being delivered from all sickness and adversity, we may praise thee with perpetual thanksgiving. Through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, &c.