238 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



friendship the desolate years of his exile in England and 

 had influenced him to enter the communion of the 

 Church. A few days before his death he dismissed his 

 physicians, saying, "Don't come to see me any more; 

 leave me to the great Physician". 



He derived his greatest consolation and satisfaction 

 from having his family about him, for whom he had 

 always shown throughout his life the tenderest affections 

 of a devoted father and husband. As he talked to them, 

 there would come flashes of his quaint playful humor 

 that had always been so characteristic of him; and he 

 requested that there be no weeping in his presence. He 

 rejoiced in being able to recognize all his family to the 

 end. "You see", said he, "how God has answered my 

 prayers, for I know you every one. ... I shall retain 

 my senses to the last. God has granted me that as a 

 token of my acceptance. I have set my house in order, 

 my prayers have all been answered, my children are 

 gathered round my bed — and now Lord, what wait I 

 for?" Then he would repeat the prayer which he had 

 composed thirty years before when his leg was broken, 

 and which he had repeated in his daily devotions ever 

 since: "Lord Jesus, thou Son of God and Redeemer of 

 the world, have mercy upon me! Pardon my offenses, 

 and teach me the error of my ways ; give me a new heart 

 and a right mind. Teach me and all mine to do Thy 

 will, and in all things to keep Thy law. Teach me also 

 to ask those things necessary for eternal life. Lord, 

 pardon me for all my sins, for Thine is the kingdom and 

 the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen". 



On the evening before his death, the family sang for 

 him verses from his favorite hymn, "Christ Is Risen", 

 which he called "Pass over Jordan", and also from "How 



