Gracious God and Father, I acknowledge and confess unto Thee that I have
done evil all the days of my life and have not lived to Thy honor. I have
fulfilled the lusts of the flesh and have served myself and the world
more than Thee. O Lord, I am very sorry that I have passed the few days
of my life in doing evil. I acknowledge that Thou art only visiting my
iniquities upon me in sending this sickness. By this Thou wouldst call me
to repentance. O Lord, Thou judgest me righteously and chastenest me that
I may not perish with the ungodly world. By this sickness Thou puttest me
in mind of my mortality and teachest me to know mine end and the measure
of my days, what it is. Verily, every man at his best state is altogether
vanity, surely every man walketh in a vain show, he heapeth up riches and
knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for?
Deliver me from my transgressions. I know, Lord, that my times are in Thy
hand, Thou hast written all my members in Thy book, which in continuance
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. My substance was not
hid from Thee when I was curiously wrought in my mother's womb. Since it
is Thy will that I should be sick, may I cheerfully do this Thy will. O
Lord, Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore, there
is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine anger, neither is there any
rest in my bones because of my sins, as a heavy burden, they are too
heavy for me. O my God, preserve my soul in every temptation, let this
bodily sickness be a medicine for the healing of my soul. Keep Thou my
heart and mind, and through the peace of my Lord Jesus Christ protect me
with Thy shield and buckler against all the fiery darts of the devil.
Lord, Thou knowest it that I am the work of Thy hands, Thou hast formed
me out of the clay; we are the clay and Thou our potter. Alas! how I am
broken in pieces! Spare me, O Lord; Thou wilt surely not, in Thy wrath,
cast away nor break in pieces the work of Thy hands, Thou hast separated
me from my mother's womb, Thou didst make me hope, when I was upon my
mother's breasts. Thou art the Lord and giver of my life, and hast power
to take it again at Thine own appointed time. Should it be Thy will, deal
kindly with me, as Thou didst with king Hezekiah, to whose days Thou
didst add fifteen years. Behold, for peace I have great bitterness, in
love to my soul, deliver it from the pit of corruption and cast all my
sins behind Thy back. Should this sickness not be unto death, then, O
Lord, lift me up again and heal me, for I am very weak. O Lord Jesus,
Thou heavenly physician, take me under Thy treatment, alleviate my pains
and heal me by Thy wounds, and make Thy bitter sufferings and death my
medicine. Lord, let me touch the hem of Thy garment, that is, Thy Word
and sacraments, in which Thou art wrapped up, and make me whole by the
virtue which cometh out of Thee. Should it be Thy will however, that in
this sickness I shall go the way of all the earth, be it so, for I am no
better than my fathers, only let Thy servant depart in peace, according
to Thy Word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast
prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of Thy people Israel. Amen.