how we are to bear them, and the benefits of improving Sect. III. them. And here, if the perfon be very fick, the Curate may end his Exhortation. But if his diftemper will allow him to proceed, the Mi-The fecond nifter is to admonish and ftir, him up to the practice of part. those virtues which are now especially needful: fuch as, in the first place, is Patience; fince, till his mind is made calm, it is in vain to prefs him either to faith or repentance. For which reason this second part of the Exhortation we are speaking of endeavours to cheer up the fpirits of the Sick, by proper arguinents, precepts, and examples. And now, being in hopes that his mind is composed, The Exathe Minister proceeds to give him fuch advice as is proper mination of for one that is preparing for Death. And fince at his the Sick. Baptifm he made a folemn vow to God, which he promised to keep all the days of his life; it is fit he should examine, now the end of his life may probably draw near, how he has performed and discharged that promise.' And because one part of his vow was, to believe all the Articles of the Chriftian Faith, therefore the Priest particularly inquires into the fick man's belief. For to doubt of, or deny any of thefe articles, is declared to be a dangerous and damnable state. It is to forfake the faith into which he was baptized: and what elfe is this but to cut himself off from all the privileges and advantages to which his baptifm entitled him? For which reafon it is neceffary that our brother fhould fhew that he has kept this faith entire, that fo we may be fatisfied that he dies a found member of the Catholic church, out of which no falvation can ordinarily be obtained. SECT. IV. Of the Examination and Exhortation according to the direction in the Rubric. mination of THE former Exhortation agrees to all fick perfons in The difcregeneral, and is therefore prefcribed in a fet form. But tional Exafince the cafes and tempers of men in Sickness are the fick very different, the church leaves it to the discretion of perfon. the Minifter who vifits, to affift and direct them in other matters, as he fees the particular cafe requires. She only prescribes the heads of Examination, and leaves the management and expreffion to the prudence of the Minifter, fince no form could poffibly be contrived, that fhould fuit all the variety of circumftances that happen. Chap. XI. §. 1. The firft direction given (which was added at 1. As to his the laft review) is, that the Minifter fhall examine whether Repent- he repent him truly of his fins. For it is very certain that ance. 2. As to his Charity. all have finned 54, and confequently that all have need of repentance: and therefore before the Minister can give the fick man comfort upon any good grounds, it is fit that he fhould be fatisfied of the truth of his Repentance. The ex §. 2. In the next place he is to examine, Whether he be in Charity with all the world, exhorting him to forgive, from the bottom of his heart, all perfons that have offended him. For there is not any duty more enforced in the Gospel, than that of brotherly reconciliation, or forgiving of injuries, which even in the prayer that our Lord has taught us is made the condition of God's forgiving us. ample therefore of our Lord and his first martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for their murderers at the very inftant of their death, fhould always be confidered upon these occafions. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do 55; and, Lord, lay not this fin to their charge 56, which were their dying words, fhould always be ours. For fure it is high time for men to forget their refentments against their neighbours, when they are just going to answer for their own mifdoings: efpecially when we are taught fo plainly by our Saviour, that unless we have compaffion on our fellow-fervants, our Lord will exact from us all that we owe to him, and will deliver us over to the tormentors till we shall have paid what is due 57. But befides the fick perfon's forgiving thofe that have offended him, if he has offended any other, he must ask them forgiveness; and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man, he mufi alfo make amends to the uttermoft of his power. For he who refuses to do this is not a penitent for the injury he has done, but would certainly do more, if he had time and opportunity; and therefore he can expect nothing but condemnation from that Judge, who knows the tendency and temper of his mind. Our Lord, we know, did not receive Zaccheus into the number of his followers or difciples, till he had made profeffion of his willingness to restore 58 : who then can expect to be received into his kingdom, that refuses so necessary a part of justice? Since therefore the fick perfon may now, for what he knows, be going to appear before the Judge of all the world, 54 Rom. iii. 23. 57 Matt. xviii. 23, &c. from from whom he that doth wrong fhall receive for the wrong Sect. IV. which he hath done, without respect of perfons; how much doth it concern him to agree with his adverfary while he is yet in the way with him, left afterwards the adverfary deliver him to the judge, and the judge deliver him to the officer, and fo he be caft into prifon, from whence he fhall by no means come out till he has paid the uttermoft farthing! So neceffary is it even for those who but fufpect themselves of any wrongful deed, to judge and examine themselves with all poffible ftrictnefs, and by public acknowledgments and tender of fatisfaction to declare their unfeigned and hearty repentance. worldly §. 3. After the exercise of these two branches of Cha- He muft be rity, fhould follow the third, viz. that of giving to the exhorted to Poor but before the fick man be exhorted to this, it is fettle his neceffary that he should know what is his own to give. affairs. For which reafon, if he has not before difpofed of his Goods, he is then to be admonished to make his Will, and to declare his Debts, what he oweth and what is owing unto him, for the better difcharging of his confcience, and the quietness of his Executors. And though the making of a Will be a fecular matter, which does not relate to thofe fpiritual concerns which the Minifter comes to the fick man about; yet fince the affairs of inteftates are generally left in fo confufed a manner, that ftrifes and contefts are often the refult, it is very prudently enjoined by our church, that the Minifter fhould remind them of fettling their affairs. Men indeed fhould often be put in remembrance, to take order for the fettling of their temporal eftates whilft they are in health: for no man is fure but that he may be taken off fuddenly, without having time to perform it; or though he may be feized with a lingering difeafe, yet it may be fuch a one as may incapacitate him from doing it. Or fuppofing the beft, that he may have timely notice or warning of his death, and his understanding hold good and perfect to the laft; yet fure it must be a disturbance to a dying man, to have those moments taken up in ordering and difpofing of his worldly affairs, which ought to be employed in preparing him for eternity. However, if our careleffness has deferred it till then, it must by no means be omitted now. We must not leave our friends and relations involved in endless fuits and contentions; none of our family must be left unprovided for, through our neglect of affigning their portion; nor must our 59 Col. iii. 25. 60 Matt. v. 25, 26. creditors Chap. XI. creditors be defrauded of their juft demands, for want of our clearing or declaring our debts. If in any of these cafes our last act be unjuft, we leave a blot upon our name in this world, and can expect nothing but a fad doom in the next. (But this may be done before his Prayers.) For this reason the church makes it a part of the Minifter's care. And by an ancient conftitution made in the the Minif year 1236, people were forbid to make their Wills withter begins out the prefence of the Parish-Prieft, as they defired that their Wills might be fulfilled"1. However, if the Minifter think this a matter of too fecular a nature to be mingled with his difcourfes concerning his fpiritual concerns, he is allowed to manage and difpatch this firft before he begins the holy office. For that is the intent of the following rubric, which allows, that the words before rehearfed may be faid before the Minifter begin his prayer, as he fhall fee caufe. Which, if compared with King Edward's Common Prayer-Books, plainly refers to the man's difpofal of his goods; against which part of the direction the contents of this rubric are printed in the margin*. And to be the Poor. §. 4. The man's affairs being now fettled, and his cirliberal to cumftances known, the Minifter, in the next place, is not to omit earnestly to move him, if he be of ability, to be liberal to the poor. By the old canon law every one was obliged to leave fuch a proportion of his goods or eftate to charitable uses, as he bequeathed to each of his children 62 This moiety, which belongeth to the church, was laid up by the Bishop for the maintenance of the Clergy, the repair of the fabric, and the like. But we are only enjoined to put the Rich in mind of the Poor, that out of the abundance which they are going to leave, they fhould bestow fome liberal largefs on them. And indeed, of all our treafures, that alone which we thus difpofe of is laid up in ftore for ourselves. Our good works are our only moveables that shall follow us to the grave: and therefore there is no time more seasonable for them than Sickness, when we are preparing to be gone. The fick man to §. 4. Befides the Examination and Exhortation above mentioned, the fick person is farther to be moved to make a confef's his Special Confeffion of his Sins, if he feel his Confcience troubled fins. *This may be done before the Minifter begin bis prayers, as he fball fee caufe. 61 See Mr. Johnson's Ecclefiaftical 62 Decret. Par. 2. Cauf. 13. Qu. 2. Laws, A. D. 1236. 29. 1 with any weighty matters; i. e. I fuppofe, if he has com- Sect. IV. mitted any fin for which the cenfure of the church ought to be inflicted, or else if he is perplexed concerning the nature, or fome nice circumftances of his crime. It was upon the former of these cafes, that private Confeffion feems at firft to have been appointed; for in the early ages of the church, when the public humiliation of fcandalous offenders was obferved to be attended with some great advantages, many perfons of zeal would not only rank themfelves in the clafs of public penitents for fins done in fecret, but would even folemnly confefs before the congregation the particular crime, for which they defired to make fatisfaction, by fubmitting to penance. Now though it was fit that what had been openly committed in the face of the world should be openly retracted, that fo the fcandal might be removed; yet it might often happen, that in the cafe of fecret fins, it would be better that the particulars should be kept concealed. For this reafon a Penitentiary, or Confeffor, was early appointed in every diocese, to whom perfons in doubt fhould refort, and confult with him, what on the one hand might be fit for publication, and what on the other would be better kept fecret. So The state of that though public penance was still generally affigned for Confeffion grievous offences that were privately committed; yet the in the pri perfons that confeffed did not always make a public de-church. claration of the fact, for which they appeared in the rank of penitents. The congregation to be fure knew that fomething had been committed, which deferved that correction: but what the thing was, they were no otherwife acquainted with, than as the Penitentiary should advise or forbid the discovery. This is the best conjecture we are able to make concerning the rife of the Penitentiary's office; though we have fome footsteps of private and fecret confeffions before we read of any stated confeffor. For Origen, who lived at the beginning of the third century, fpeaks of private confeffions as the received ufage in his time, and only advises the choice of a perfon that was fit to be trusted 63. And St. Cyprian, that lived much about the fame time, commends the zeal of those that laid open even their thoughts and intentions of offering facrifice to idols (though they had not yet proceeded to the fact) with grief and fincerity before the Prieft. And much the fame advice is given by others, who mention private confeffion as a general and well-known practice, and only 63 Origen. in Pfal. xxxvii. Hom. 2. 64 Cypr, de Lapf. caution mitive |