Chap. XI. and in the Exhortation to the Communion mentioned above, fomewhat altered the expreffions, to fhew that the benefit of Abfolution (of Abfolution, I prefume, from inward guilt) was not to be received by the pronouncing of any form, but by a due application and miniftry of God's holy word. So that all that the Minifter feems here empowered to tranfact, in order to quiet the confcience of a perfon that applies to him for advice, is only to judge by the outward figns and fruits of his repentance, whether his converfion be real and fincere; and if upon examination it appears to be fo, he is then to comfort him, with an affurance that his fins are remitted even in the court of heaven, and that he is restored to the grace and favour of Chrift. But then this he is to deliver, not abfolutely, but conditionally; i. e. upon the prefumption that his repentance is as fincere as he reprefents it. He muft by no means pronounce it as a final judge; because Christ alone can difcern whether his converfion be feigned or real; and confequently he only can abfolutely determine the state of the man towards God. be pronounced, unlef's The prefent §. 7. As to the form of Absolution, of which we are form not to now difcourfing, a parenthesis was added at the laft review, to intimate, that this is not to be used even over the Sick, unlefs he humbly and heartily defire it. For it is fit a man heartily de- fhould fhew an earneft defire, and a due fenfe of fo great a fired. benefit, before it is offered him. And then if he be rightly inftructed in the end and defign of it, and the form itself be applied with that prudence and caution above described, the use of it surely may not only tend to the good of the penitent, but may alfo prove of fingular service and advantage to the church. ty-firft Pfalm. SECT. VI. Of the Pfalm and Bleffings. The feven- I. AFTER the fick perfon is abfolved by the church, and recommended to the pardon and grace of God, the Minister is directed to ufe in his behalf the feventy-firft Pfalm; which is fo very apt and proper to exprefs the fick man's defires and wants, and at the fame time to exercife his faith, to inflame his love, to uphold his patience, and revive his hope, that not only our own, but the Eastern 92, Western 93, and moft churches in the world agree in the choice of it for this office. At the , 91 John xv. 3. 2 Cor. v. 19. 93 Manual, Sariíb. fol. 37. review at the Restoration indeed the five laft verfes were Sect. VI. left out of our own, as fuppofing the perfon reftored to his former state and profperity, and fo not being fuitable to be used over one whofe cafe is languishing and dangerous. II. And now to take leave with a valedictory Bleffing; The three as it is very fit and decent at all times, fo it is neceffary, Bleffings. when we depart from a friend, whose case is such as that perhaps we may fee his face no more. For this reason the office is concluded with three folemn Bleffings; the first of which is an addrefs to God the Son, the fecond to the Father, and the third (which was added at the last review) to the holy and undivided Trinity; and all affift to procure to the patient the greatest Bleffings he can need or defire. SECT. VII. Of the Unction prefcribed by the firft Common by the firft Book of King Ed. AFTER the fecond of the aforefaid Bleffings, i. e. at Unction of the end of the ordinary office for the Vifitation of the the Sick Sick in King Edward's firft Liturgy, If the fick perfon de- prefcribed fired to be anointed, the Priest was to anoint him upon the Common forehead or breaft only, making the fign of the Cross, Saying Prayerthus: As with this vifible Oil thy Body outwardly is anointed, ward VI. fo our heavenly Father, Almighty God, grant of his infinite goodness, that thy Soul inwardly may be anointed with the Holy Ghoft, who is the Spirit of all ftrength, comfort, relief, and gladness. And vouchsafe for his great mercy (if it be his bleffed will) to restore unto thee thy bodily health and Strength to ferve him; and fend thee release of all thy pains, troubles, and difeafes, both in body and mind. And how foever his goodness (by his divine and unfearchable providence) fhall difpofe of thee, we his unworthy Minifters and Servants humbly befeech the eternal Majefty, to do with thee according to the multitude of his innumerable mercies, and to pardon thee all thy fins and offences committed by all thy bodily fenfes, paffions, and carnal affections; who alfo vouchsafe mercifully to grant unto thee ghoftly strength, by his holy Spirit, to withstand and overcome all temptations and affaults of thine adverfary, that in no wife he prevail against thee, but that thou mayeft have perfect victory and triumph against the devil, fin, and death, through Chrift, our Lord; who by his death hath overcome the Prince of death, and Chap. XI. and with the Father, and the Holy Ghoft, evermore liveth and reigneth God, world without end. Amen. Oil ufed by ftles in why. After this followed the thirteenth Pfalm, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? &c. This feems to have been the remains of both the ancient and popish Unction of the Sick; which I fhall fhew by and by differed one from the other, as well as it will appear they both did from the primitive. But to give the reader a diftinct view of the cafe, it will be neceffary to begin from the famous paffage in St. James, upon which they were each of them founded and built. Now in the laft chapter of that epiftle, among several other instructions which the Apoftle was giving to the Jewish converts, this, it feems, was one, viz. that if any was fick among them, he fhould call for the Elders of the Church, who should pray over him, anointing him with Oil in the name of the Lord: the effect of which he declared would be, that the Prayer of Faith fhould fave the Sick, and the Lord fhould raife him up; and if he had committed fins, they should be forgiven him. This is the place on which thofe that contend for the Unction of the Sick (whether popish or ancient) lay all their ftrefs, urging it as a standing precept of St. James, which was to continue in force through all ages of Chriftianity. §. 2. But now if we compare these words with the the Apo- context, together with the primitive practice of the church, it will evidently appear, that they were only defigned as a healing the Sick; and temporary inftitution, proper to the time in which the Apostle lived, and fuited as well to an ancient practice of the Jews, as to a miraculous difpenfation which was then vouchfafed by the Holy Ghoft to the firft Believers of the Gofpel. For that the Apostles and others, in the first ages of the church, were endued with feveral extraordinary gifts, almost every page in the New Teftament declares: and that the power of healing, or miraculously recovering fick perfons from their diseases, was one of these gifts, is also too evident to need any proof"". It is fufficient therefore to note, that though these operations were effected wholly by virtue of that power with which the Apostles and others at that time were endued, (infomuch that we read of fome that were healed by the bare Speaking of a word, of others that were cured by handkerchiefs, or aprons, and of others again that were recovered by the 94 James v. 14, 15. 96 Acts ix. 34. 99 impofition of hands 98, or by the mere fhadow of an Apostle Sect. VII. as he was paffing by ";) yet fince it was cuftomary for the Jews to apply Oil to the Sick, as an ordinary medicine to heal their diseases; therefore the Apostles, in working the cures upon those of their own nation, did often make ufe of the fame application. For thus we are told, that when the twelve were fent forth by our Lord with power, they anointed with Oil many that were fick, and healed them2. Not that they ufed Oil, as having any natural force in it to procure the effect; but only as a fymbol or fign of a miraculous recovery: for that the virtue, which attended the Unction used by the Apoftles, was fupernatural, and derived from him who fent them, was plain enough from hence, that the fame means, which at other times were at beft but of doubtful fuccefs, always produced a certain cure when applied by them. and in what §. 3. Anointing of the Sick therefore being customary Why preamong the Jews, and fuch anointing, when performed by fcribed by those that were endued with the gift of healing, being at- St. James, tended with extraordinary and miraculous cures, it was fenfe. very natural for St. James, when he was writing to the twelve tribes which were fcattered abroad3, and giving them inftructions for the behaviour of the Sick, to advise them to fend for the Elders of the Church, and to commit the application of the Oil to them. Not that he promised that the ordinary use of it fhould always produce fuch a miraculous effect; but only that fince the elders of the church were the perfons on whom the gift of healing was generally beftowed, the happiest event from the anointing with Oil might reasonably be expected, when it was done by them. And indeed that the Apostle gave this advice upon fuppofition that their following it would often be attended with miraculous cures, is plain from the words in the following verfe, where he fays, that the Prayer of Faith Shall Save the Sick, and the Lord fhall raife him up. Now Faith, we know, is often used in Scripture for an inward persuafion, that one fhould be enabled by God to do a miracle*; and therefore the Prayer of Faith must be a prayer accompanied with fuch a perfuafion. Confequently the meaning of St. James, when he says, the Prayer of Faith fhall fave the '98 Mark xvi. 18. Acts xxviii. 8. 99 Acts v. 15, 16. I See Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. page 333. and upon Mark vi. 13. vol. ii. page 343. 2 Mark vi. 7, 13, 3 James i. 1. 4 Matt. xvii. 20. and xxi. 21. Mark xi. 23. Luke xvii. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 9. and xiii. 2. Chap. XI. Sick, must be, that when the anointing with Oil, which he directs the elders to perform, fhould be attended or accompanied with the Prayer of Faith, it fhould fave or recover the Sick from his disease, and prevail with the Lord to raise him up. For it is not to be fuppofed, that they, who were endued with this gift, could exercise or exert it upon whom they pleafed; but only that when they knew, by the impulfe of the Spirit, that the Lord defigned to fave any person whom they were called upon to anoint, they prayed to him with full affurance of fuccefs, and the Sick was accordingly restored to health. And this being done generally to those on whom fickness had been inflicted as a chastisement for fome fins which they had committed, (which was a very common cafe in the beginning of the church 5;) therefore it is added, that if he have committed fins, they should be forgiven hin; i. e. not only his affliction or difeafe fhould be removed, but his fins, which were the cause of it, fhould also be taken away. But farther, that the Prayer of Faith, to which the Apoftle here attributes the recovery of the Sick, is a prayer offered up by the extraordinary impulfe of the Spirit, may be gathered from what he adds by way of confirmation at the fixteenth verfe, viz. that the infpired Prayer of a righteous man availeth much for fo the word preμén is often used to fignify, and fo the context fhews it ought to be tranflated in this place. For that the prayers of Elijah (which the Apostle brings for an example in the two following verfes) were prayers of faith in the fenfe mentioned above, is plain from the hiftory of that Prophet in the first Book of Kings; for as we know from St. James, that he prayed that it might not rain, and again that it might rain; fo we know by that hiftory, that he expressly and abfolutely foretold to Ahab both the one and the other". And this too being an instance of the prevalency of prayer, in producing of strange and sudden events, fhews clearly what was meant by the Apostle in this place, when he fays, that the infpired Prayer of a righteous man availeth much, viz. that it avails to the procuring temporal effects of a strange, and furprifing, and wonderful nature. I am fenfible that, in this interpretation of St. James, I differ in one point from several of the most eminent divines of our church: and that is, in fuppofing the Unction 5 See 1 Cor. xi. 30, 31, 32. John 61 Kings xvii. 1. and xviii. 1,41. v. 15. here |