September 6.
[I had just heard of Williams's Death. ]1

Almighty and most merciful Father, who art the Lord of
life and death, who givest and who takest away, teach me
to adore thy providence, whatever Thou shalt allot me ; make
me to remember, with due thankfulness, the comforts [which]1
I have received [from my friendship with Anna Williams. Look
upon her, O Lord, with mercy]1, and prepare me, by thy grace, 
to die with hope, and to pass by death to eternal happiness,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

About the headline (FAQ)

View text without footnotes

Confirmed with George Birkbeck Norman Hill, Johnsonian Miscellanies, Vol. I, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1897, p.114

¹ omitted by Bingham

Text Authorship:

• by Samuel Johnson, Dr. (1709 - 1784), no title, written 1783, appears in Johnsonian Miscellanies, in Prayers and Meditations, no. 164 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Judith Bingham (b. 1952), "A Prayer for Easter", 2022 [ satb chorus ], from Seven Short Prayers, no. 4, Composers Edition
      Publisher: Composers Edition [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-08-10
Line count: 10
Word count: 94