Whoever has well considered the various duties pertaining to the pastoral office, will readily acknowledge that scarcely any are more important, or more difiicult to be rightly discharged, than those which are due to the sick. They are duties which demand the greatest activity, and require the utmost discretion; and if altogether neglected, or carelessly and injudiciously discharged, most dangerous to the sick will be the consequences. If, therefore, I dilate upon this part of the sacerdotal office, and publish the result of my own experience, the information I have gained from converse with others, and that which I have derived from books, I shall, I think, be recompensed for my labours; and this the more so, because I am unacquainted with any work by which any one, though he should read with attention, may be sufficiently furnished for the performance of this important office. - Summary by First Chapter
Chapters
1 Preface 3 min 2 The Occasion, Design, and Distribution of the Treatise 3 min 3 Rules concerning those things with which the Curate should be previously furnished for the better discharge of the Office of Visiting the Sick 32 min 4 Rules for discoursing with the Sick 6 min 5 Rules concerning the Duties which the Curate should enjoin the Attendants of the Sick 4 min 6 Rules for the Visitation of those with whom the Curate is but very little acquainted 4 min 7 Rules for the Visitation of those who are troubled in Mind 9 min 8 Rules for the Visitation of those who are recovering from Sickness 6 min 9 Rules for the Visitation of those who are of tender years 10 min 10 An Appendix, containing Rules for bringing the Sick to an acknowledgment of their Sins, and, when necessary, to a Confession of the same 20 min 11 Two General Forms of Address, by the Rev. Benedict Scroggs 5 min 12 The Order for the Visitation of the Sick 17 min 13 Stonhouse's Method of Examination before receiving the Sacrament 3 min 14 A Help for conversing on the Design of the Sacrament, and the Preparation for receiving it: from Stonhouse's Sick Man's Friend 3 min 15 The Communion of the Sick 18 min 16 The Ministration of Private Baptism in houses 5 min 17 A Catalogue of the Sins of our Youth 3 min 18 A Catalogue of the Sins of the Aged 2 min 19 A Catalogue of the Sins of the Rich 2 min 20 A Catalogue of the Sins of the Poor 2 min 21 A Catalogue of Sins not included in the foregoing, and to which all sorts and conditions of men are by nature inclined 4 min 22 The First Table of the Decalogue 2 min 23 The Second Table of the Decaloge 1 min 24 General Prayers for the Sick 4 min 25 A Prayer under severe Pain 1 min 26 A Prayer when Sickness long continues 1 min 27 A prayer when the Sick cannot sleep 1 min 28 A Prayer when Danger is apprehended from excessive Sleep 1 min 29 A Prayer for the Sick, when in any way deprived of his Senses and Reason 1 min 30 A Prayer for one who has received any bodily Hurt 1 min 31 A Prayer for a Woman after Child-birth 1 min 32 A Prayer for one in Despair 1 min 33 A Short Litany 2 min 34 The Parable of the Ten Virgins 2 min 35 The Parable of the Talents 3 min 36 The Parable of the Prodigal Son 4 min 37 The Parable of the Lost Sheep 1 min 38 The Parable of the Importunate Widow 1 min 39 The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican 1 min 40 The Parable of the King who took an account of his Servants, and punished him who showed no mercy to his fellow-servant 2 min 41 The Parable of the Good Samaritan 2 min 42 Our Lord's description of the Last Judgement 3 min 43 The most effectual method of resisting Temptation 4 min 44 The Promise that the Comforter shall come and abide for ever with Christ's Disciples 1 min 45 That Christian Mourners should not sorrow without hope for the dead 1 min 46 The Parable of the Ten Lepers 2 min 47 The Happy Change which the Resurrection of Christ will effect in the Condition of the Saints 5 min 48 Devotional Poetry 19 min
