PROPER PSALMS FOR A SICK PERSON AT SEA. I. 1. SAVE me, O God, for the waters are come in, even unto my soul. 2. I am come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me. Psalm lxix. 1, 2. 3. The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods have lift up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. 4. The waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly but yet the Lord, who dwelleth in heaven, is mightier. Psalm xciii. 4, 5. 5. He maketh the storm to cease, so that the waves thereof are still, 6. Wherefore unto thee, O Lord, do I cry in my trouble: deliver me out of my distress. Psalm cvii. 28. 7. Thou shalt shew us wonderful things in thy righteousness, O God of our salvation: thou that art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea. Psalm lxv. 5. 8. Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born; thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb; my praise shall always be of thee. Psalm lxxi. 5, 6. 9. I will cry unto thee, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Psal. lxxxix. 26. 10. Withdraw not thou thy mercy from me, O Lord; let thy loving-kindness and truth always pre serve me. 11. For innumerable troubles are come about me: my sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me. 12. O Lord, let it be thy pleasure to deliver me: make haste, O Lord, to help me. Psalm xl. 11-13. II. 1. OUT of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice. 2. O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. Psalm cxxx. 1, 2. 3. For I am helpless and poor, and my heart is wounded within me. Psalm cix. 21. 4. My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon me. 5. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and a horrible dread hath overwhelmed me. Psalm lv. 4, 5. 6. I go hence like the shadow that departeth, and am driven away like a grasshopper. Psalm cix. 22. 7. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from thee. Psalm lxix. 5. 8. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit; in a place of darkness, and in the deep. 9. Thine indignation lieth hard upon me, and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms. Psalm lxxxviii. 5, 6. 10. Thou breakest me with a tempest, and my roarings are poured out like waters. Job ix. 17. iii. 24. 11. O reject me not utterly, and be not exceeding wroth against thy servant. Lament. v. 22. 12. For my soul is full of trouble, and my life draweth nigh unto hell. Psalm lxxxviii. 2. 13. I am brought into so great trouble and misery, that I go mourning all the day long. 14. For my loins are filled with a sore disease, and there is no whole part in my body. Psalm xxxviii. 6,7. 15. My wounds stink and are corrupt, through my foolishness. Psalm xxxviii. 5. 16. Behold, O Lord, I am in distress; my bowels are troubled, my heart is turned within me, for I have grievously transgressed. Lament. i. 20. 17. O remember not the sins and offences of my youth; but according to thy mercy think thou upon me, O Lord, for thy goodness. Psalm xxv. 6. 18. Cast me not away in the time of age; forsake me not, when my strength faileth me. Psalm lxxi. 8. 19. Take thy plague away from me: I am even consumed by the means of thy heavy hand. 20. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for like as sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, it were a moth fretting a garment: every man therefore is but vanity. 21. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears consider my calling; hold not thy peace at my tears. 22. For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 23. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen. Psalm xxxix. 11-13. A prayer for a sick seaman. O MOST great and glorious Lord, the "salvation of all that dwell on the earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea;" under whose powerful protection we are alike secure in every place, and without whose providence over us we can no where be in safety; look down, we beseech thee, upon us, thy unworthy servants, who are called to " behold thy wonders in the deep," and to perform our several duties in the great waters. "Thou art our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble ;" and therefore we fly unto thee for succour in all our necessities. Extend thy accustomed goodness to our distressed brother, whom thou hast been pleased to visit with the rod of affliction. "The waves of death encompass him about, and the sorrows of hell take hold upon him. O leave him not to himself, nor let him be given over "to a spirit of slumber" and darkness; but "open his eyes, that he may see the wondrous things of thy law," and the necessity of a speedy and sincere repentance; so that from the sickness of his body, he may derive health and salvation to his soul, which is the great end of all thy righteous judgments, and of all our afflictions. Let him seriously consider and reflect within himself, from this visitation, "what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God;" and let him hence learn, if it shall please thee to raise him up again, to preserve a more awful sense of thy divine majesty upon his spirit," and to live more soberly, righteously, and piously, in this present world." We know, O Lord, that " many are the enemies of peace," and that "the whole world lieth in wickedness:" but let him not "follow a multitude to do evil," nor "give his consent to the enticement of sinners;" but being perfectly "redeemed from all vain conversation, and renewed in the spirit of his mind," let him "walk before thee with a perfect heart," and spend the residue of his days in thy faith and fear. Or if thou hast determined otherwise concerning him, be pleased to give him sufficient grace, and strength, and time, to "make his calling and election sure, before he go hence and be no more seen:" revive his drooping spirits, fortify his heart, and as he decays in the outer, strengthen him in the inner man, by setting before him the hopes of a blessed immortality" as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." Amen. A prayer for a sick soldier or seaman. O MOST mighty Lord, the fountain of health and life, strength and courage, the aid and support of all that fly unto thee for succour, with whom is no respect of per sons, but every one that feareth thee (whether he be rich or poor, learned or unlearned) is accepted by thee; we beseech thee mercifully to look down upon our brother, who is now fallen under the rod of thy displeasure. We know, O Lord, that all thy judgments are princi pally intended for our good in the end, by the reformation of our lives and manners; and therefore we most humbly beseech thee to let thy present judgment have that good effect upon our brother, that he may lead the rest of his life as a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ, and not continue to harden his heart against all the powerful and repeated instances of thy mercies and judgments towards him. If thou hast designed this sickness shall terminate in his death, O be pleased to fit and prepare him for it; or if otherwise in mercy thou hast determined to spare him, O let him not return to any of his former sinful courses, but let him always keep in mind the promise which he made to thee in baptism, of renouncing the world, the flesh, and the devil; and which, we hope, he now again heartily renews in this his day of visitation. We know, O Lord, that many temptations will unavoidably assault him in the state of life wherein he is engaged, and therefore we most humbly beseech thee to give him such a portion of thy blessed Spirit as may enable him to fight with as much resolution and courage against his spiritual enemies, as the nature of his post obliges him to do, upon just occasions, against his temporal; ever remembering, that the greatest of conquests is that which is made upon ourselves; and that no victory is so truly honourable, as that which is obtained over our vicious inclinations. Wherefore give him grace, we beseech thee, O Lord, "to abhor that which is evil, and to cleave to that which is good." Let him religiously avoid all blasphemy and profaneness, all drunkenness, riot, and lasciviousness; and let him carefully follow the rule our Saviour hath set him, "of doing violence to no man, accusing no man falsely, and being content with his own wages;" so that, having " put on the whole armour of God, he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; and whenever thou shalt be pleased to put an end to his warfare (either now or hereafter), he may cheerfully resign his soul into thy hands, in these confortable words of the apostle: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give unto all those that love and fear him, and put their trust in his mercy." Amen. A prayer to be used by a person afflicted with a (By Dr. Stonehouse.) O LORD GOD Almighty, I am wonderfully made, and all my powers of body and mind were produced and are supported by thee. "Thou killest, and makest alive thou woundest, and makest whole." |
