again; so, though our Prayers at that Time may be of no Service to the Soul, yet they will be of no Disservice to us. They will return to us again, but it will be no Fault to have misplaced them.

ઉં

PRAYERS UPON THIS OCCASION FROM BISHOP

TAYLOR.

I.

O Holy and most Gracious JESU, we humbly recommend the Soul of thy Servant "into thy Hands, thy most merciful Hands: "Let thy blessed Angels stand in Ministry

about thy Servant, and defend him from "the Violence and Malice of all his ghostly "Enemies: And drive far from him all the Spirits of Darkness. Amen.

હે

2

II.

"LORD, receive the Soul of this thy Serivant: Enter not into Judgment with him: Spare him whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious Blood: And deliver him, for whose sake thou didst suffer Death, from "all Evil and Mischief, from the Crafts and "Assaults of the Devil, from the Fear of Death, and from everlasting Death, Amen.

III.

LORD, impute not unto him the Follies "of his Youth, nor any of the Errors and Mis"carriages of his Life: But strengthen him in "his Agony, and carry him safely through his "last Distress. Let not his Faith waver, nor "his Hope fail, nor his Charity be disorder"ed: Let him die in Peace, and rest in Hope, "and rise in Glory. Amen.

IV.

"LORD, we know and believe assuredly, "that whatsoever is under thy Custody, can"not be taken out of thy Hands, nor by all "the Violences of Hell robbed of thy Protec

66

tion: Preserve the Work of thy Hands, "rescue him from all Evil, and let his Por"tion be with the Patriarchs and Prophets, "with the Apostles and Martyrs, and all thy holy Saints, in the Arms of CHRIST, in the Bosom of Felicity, and in the Kingdom of "God for Ever. Amen.

66

66

V.

"O Saviour of the World, who by thy Cross, and precious Blood hast redeemed us, save, and help this thy departing Servant, we beseech thee, O LORD. Amen.

66

66

66

66

"O Almighty Lord, who art a most strong Tower to all them that put their Trust in thee; to whom all things in Heaven, in Earth, and under the Earth, do bow and

obey; be now and evermore his Defence; "and make him to know and feel, by a pow"erful Sense of thy Goodness, that there is no other Name under Heaven given to Man, in whom and through whom we may "receive Health and Salvation, but only the "Name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Amen.

VII.

"O LORD, unto thy gracious Mercy and Protection we commit him. O GOD the "Father, bless him and keep him. O GOD “the Son, make thy Face to shine upon him, "and be gracious unto him. O God the

66

Holy Ghost, lift up thy Countenance upon

મ

him, and give him thy Peace, both now " and evermore. Amen.

OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. I.

OUR Author seems of Opinion, that the Ceremony of tolling a Bell* at the Time of Death, is as antient as the Use of Bells. This is somewhat improbable. It has rather been an After-Invention of Superstition. Thus praying for the Dying was improved upon in praying for the Dead. Bells must have been first used as Signals to convene the People to their public Devotions.

Mr. Bourne has overlooked a Passage in Durand's Ritual that would have been much to his Purpose:" When any one is dying, says that "Ritualist,

* The subsequent Etymology of this Word has the Sanction of the learned Sir Henry Spelman: Bell is derived from Pelvis, a Bason for before the Invention of Bells, not only sounding Brass, but Basons also were used instead of them. (Housewives to this Day try the Soundness of their Earthen or China Vases by ringing them with a Finger). Vide Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo. Mr. Wheatley, in his Illustration of the Liturgy, apologizes for our retaining this Ceremony. "Our Church (says he) in Imita"tion of the Saints in former Ages, calls in the Minister and "others, who are at hand, to assist their Brother in his last Ex"tremity. In order to this she directs that when any one is passing "out of this Life, a Bell should be tolled, &c." It is called from thence the Fassing Bell.

66

+"Verùm aliquo moriente, Campanæ debent pulsari: ut Po"pulus hoc audiens, oret pro illo. Pro muliere quidem, bis, pro eo quòd ipsa invenit Asperitatem. Primò enim fecit hominem "alienum à Deo, quare secunda dies non habuit Benedictionem. "Pro Viro verò ter pulsatur, quia primò inventa est in Homine "Trinitas: Primò enim formatus est Adam de terra, deinde mu“lier ex Adam, postea Homo creatus est ab Utroque, et ita est ibi Trinitas.(!!!) Si autem Clericus sit, tot vicibus compulsatur, "quot ordines habuit ipse. Ad ultimum verò compulsari debet

66

"cum

Ritualist, Bells must be tolled, that the People

may put up their Prayers.-Let this be done "twice for a Woman and thrice for a` Man :" (The superstitious Reasons he assigns for these Numbers are too contemptible for Translation) "If for a Clergyman, as many Times as he had "Orders, and at the Conclusion a Peal on all the "Bells, to distinguish the Quality of the Person "for whom the People are to put up their Prayers. "A Bell too must be rung while we are conducting the Corpse to Church, and during the bringing it out of the Church to the Grave." I think this a curious and pertinent Quotation. It seems to account for a Custom still preserved in the North, of making numerous Distinctions at the Conclusion of this Ceremony-nine Knells for a Man, sir for a Woman, and three for a Child, which are without Doubt the Vestiges of this antient Injunction of Popery.

The Quotation our Author gives us from Bede*

is

"cum omnibus Campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit oran"dum. Debet etiam compulsari quando ducimus ad Ecclesiam, "et quando de Ecclesia ad Tumulum deportatur."

Vide Durandi Rationale, p. 21. 13.

Durand flourished about the End of the 12th Century.

In Ray's Collection of old English Proverbs I find the following Couplet:

*

When thou dost hear a Toll, or Knell,

Then think upon thy passing Bell.

I have examined this Passage in King Alfred's Saxon Version of Bede: In rendering Campana, I find he has used Cluggan, which properly signifies a Clock (Bellan is in the Margin). Clock is the old German Name for a Bell, and hence the French call one

une