Having given general directions, he descendeth now to
particulars, instanceth in one special kind of afflictions, in sickness. (1.)
He supposeth the case as likely to be frequent among them, 'Is any sick among
you?' (2.) Proposeth the duty - (1st.) Of the sick Christian, 'let him call for
the elders of the church.' .(2d.) Of the elders, which is twofold - [1.] One
ordinary and immutable, 'let him pray over him. [2.] The other temporary, and
suiting with the gifts of those times, 'anointing him with oil in the name of
the Lord.'
This scripture hath occasioned much controversy. Though in
this exercise I would mainly pursue what is practical, yet when a matter lieth
obvious and fair, like the angel in the way of Balaam, it cannot be avoided
without some dispute and discussion: I shall therefore first open the phrases,
then clear the controversy, then give you the observable notes.
If any
sick among you, asthenei tis en humin; 'is any weak,' and 'without strength?'
so the word signifieth. Sickness is often expressed by this word astheneis,
Mat. x. 8; èsthenèse, he was sick unto death, Phil. ii. 26, 27;
in the next verse the apostle changeth the word, the prayer of faith shall save
kamnonta, 'him that laboureth' under a disease; we translate 'the sick.' From
this change of the word the Papists collect that extreme unction is not to be
administered but to those that are mortally sick; but Cajetan, a cardinal of
theirs, well replieth, that James doth not say 'is any sick unto death?' but
'is any sick?' It is true, there is somewhat in the change of the word; it
showeth that the elders must not be sent for upon every light occasion, as soon
as the head or foot acheth, as Serarius scoffeth at our exposition, but in such
grievous diseases wherein there is danger and great pain; though it be an abuse
of the Papists to interpret it of extreme danger, and when the body is half
carcassed.
Let him call, proskalesasthoo. - The motion coming from them
is a call which we cannot withstand.
The elders. - The word is of a
promiscuous use; sometimes it is put for our ancestors and those that lived
before us: Heb. xi. 2, hoi presbuteroi, 'the elders obtained a good report;'
that is, the fathers of the Old Testament: so Mat. xv. 2, 'the tradition of the
elders;' so it cannot be taken in this place. Sometimes it is put for elders in
years and wisdom. 1 Tim. v. 1, 2, 'elder men.' and 'elder women.' Aretius saith
such are here understood, any ancient and discreet Christians in the vicinage;
but that is a private opinion without ground; the apostle saith, presbuterous
tès ekklesias, 'the elders of the church.' Thirdly, then, there are
elders by office. Now the term elder is given to all the offices and
administrations in the church, from the apostle to the deacon; apostles,
pastors, teachers, ruling brethren, deacons, are all called elders. Principally
here is understood that order of elders who are elsewhere called bishops,
whether ruling or teaching elders, chiefly the latter. In sickness we call in
the best helps, and it is to be supposed that the best gifts reside in them who
are called to teach in the church; and to add the greater seal to their
ministry, and to supply the want of physicians, many of them were endued with
the gift of healing. Now mark, he saith, plurally, tous presbuterous, 'the
elders,' because, saith Orotius, in those eastern countries seven elders were
usually called to this service. Certainly in the primitive times there was
great love in the several churches and societies of the faithful, and many
elders would go to one sick man. Some say it is an enallage, let him call the
elders of the church; that is, one of the elders, as if the speech did imply
the order rather than number; as we say, Send him to the schools, that is, to
some school; so Call for physicians, that is, go to men of that rank, &c.
This sense is considerable, though I do believe the apostle speaketh plurally,
because in every church there were many, and as they were associated in all
acts of superiority and government, so in all acts of courtesy and charity; and
indeed visiting of the sick is an act of such great skill; I mean to apply
ourselves to them for their comfort and salvation, that it should be done with
joint consent.
And let them pray over him. - Here is the first duty of
the elders, over him, that is, for him say some; but ep' auton doth not easily
bear that construction. It either implieth that ancient rite of covering the
diseased body with the body of him that prayed, as Elijah did one child, 1
Kings xvii. 21, and Elisha another, 2 Kings iv. 24, Paul did Eutychus, Acts xx.
10, 'he went down and fell on Eutychus,' praying for life, a rite that
expressed much fervency, and a desire that the dying party might, as it were,
partake of his own life; or by prayer over him he meaneth laying on of hands on
the sick, which was used by the apostle in cures; see Mark xvi. 17, 18. So Paul
healed the father of Publius by laying hands on him. So Cyril on Leviticus,
citing this place, instead of 'that they may pray over him,' readeth ut
important ei manus, that they may lay their hands on him. The ceremony had this
significancy: they did, as it were, point at the sick man, and present him to
God's pity, as you know present things do the more stir affections, as Christ
would not pray for Lazarus till he could pray over him; for when the stone was
taken away, and the object was in his sight, then it is said, 'Jesus prayed,'
John xi. 41.
Anointing him with oil. - There is but one place more in
the scriptures that speaketh of using oil in the healing and cure of diseases,
and that is Mark vi. 13, 'They cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many
that were sick, and healed them.' Oil among the Hebrews was a usual symbol of
the divine grace, and so fitly used as a sign of that power and grace of the
Spirit which was discovered in miraculous healing; it was an extraordinary sign
of an extraordinary and miraculous cure. It was the error of Aretius to think
that the apostle meant some medicinal oil; he rendereth it salubria
medicamentis non negligent; he was not the first that was in that mistake.
Wickliff before him held those oils in Palestine excellent and medicinal, and
therefore used. But this I say is a mistake, for oil was not used as an
instrument, but as a symbol of the cure. The apostle doth not mention what kind
of oil it should be, probably oil-olive, as wine is put to signify the wine of
the grape, which is the most common. Therefore, by the way, that extreme
unction used by the Papists is but a ridiculous hypocrisy, and carrieth little
proportion with this rite; for they require oil-olive mixed with balsam,
consecrated by a bishop, who must nine times bow the knee, saying thrice, Ave,
sanctum oleum, and thrice more Ave, sanctum chrisma, and thrice more, Ave,
sanctum balsamum. But of this more anon.
In the name of the Lord; that
is, either by his authority, calling upon him to operate by his power according
to the outward rite, or in his stead, as his ministers, or to his glory, to the
honour of Christ, signified here in the term Lord, that being his proper
appellation as mediator. All these miracles and cures were wrought in his name:
Mark xvi. 17. 'In my name shall they cast out devils:' so Acts iii. 6, 'In the
name of Jesus of Nazareth arise and walk,' and ver. 16, 'His name, through
faith in his name, hath made the man strong.'
Having opened the
phrases, I come now to open the controversy, whether this anointing with oil be
a standing ordinance in the church? The Papists make it a sacrament, which they
call the sacrament of extreme unction; others in our days would revive it as a
standing ordinance for church members, expecting some miraculous cure,
therefore I must deal with both. I know that the intricacies of dispute are
unpleasant to a vulgar ear, therefore I shall not traverse arguments to and
fro, but cut the work short by laying down some propositions, that may prevent
both the error of the Papists and the novelism of those that would revive this
rite in our days. The propositions are these: -
1. In the very
apostles' time, when it was most in use, it was not absolutely necessary, nor
instituted by Christ. Some Protestants, I confess, say that it was instituted
by Christ as a temporary rite, which is denied even by some among the Papists,
as Lombard, Cajetan, Hugo, who all found it upon apostolical practice. For my
part, I think it was only approved by Christ, and not instituted, and taken up
as a usual practice among the Hebrews. As I remember, Grotius, in his
commentary on the Evangelists, proveth that it was a usual rite among that
people, it being their custom to express everything inward and spiritual by
some hieroglyphic and visible symbol; and therefore God, in a condescension to
them, appointed so many rites and figures suitable to the genius of that
nation; and therefore, when they prayed for the sick, they would anoint them
with oil, as a token of that ease and joy which they should obtain from God.
This right was imitated by the apostles, and by the primitive Christians, with
such preciseness and constancy, that they would never give or take any medicine
without anointing with oil, so that I think, verily, it was nothing but an
imitation of a Jewish rite which Christ approved, but never instituted; for
when Christ sent out the apostles, and the power of healing was so solemnly
conferred upon them, we hear of no such commands of anointing with oil. He bid
them 'heal sicknesses,' Mark xvi. 18, but prescribeth not the manner. This you
will grant, at least, that it never had that solemn ratification, till the Lord
come, which other standing ordinances have. Yea, I find it to be a mere
arbitrary rite in the apostles' practice, oil being seldom used; they healed by
touch, by shadow, by handkerchief, by laying on of hands, by word of mouth,
&c. So that was an arbitrary rite which the Lord approved so far as thereby
to discover his power. Something may be objected against this, as why then doth
James press the elders to anoint with oil? I answer - That they might not
neglect the grace of God, which in those times was usually dispensed in a
concomitancy with this rite; as long as the gift remained, the accustomed rite
and symbol might be used. But you will say he coupleth it with a moral duty,
with prayer, which is an act of perpetual worship. I answer - It is not unusual
in scripture to couple an ordinary duty with an extraordinary rite - prayer and
laying on of hands; baptism and laying on of hands; and so here, prayer and
anointing with oil. But you will say, God honoured it with a miraculous effect.
I answer - So he did the water of Siloam to heal the blind, John ix. 7, the
pool of Bethesda to cure the diseased, John v. 2, Jordan for Naaman's leprosy,
&c.; and yet these cannot be set up as sacraments and standing ordinances.
2. In the apostles' time it was promiscuously used and applied to every
member of the church, but with great prudence and caution, for the apostles
only anointed those of whose recovery they were assured by the Holy Ghost, as
James here seemeth to restrain it to such an object where they could pray in
faith. He that gave the gift did always suggest the seasons of using it; with
the power he gave discretion, that by a common use they might not expose the
gift to scorn. It was a mistake in our learned Whitaker to say, that oleum
symbolum erat valetudinis recuparatee, et quod apostoli nullos unguerent nisi a
morbo liberatos - that anointing was a symbol of health already recovered, and
that the apostles anointed none but those that were in a fair way of recovery.
However, it is true that they anointed none but those of whom they were
persuaded that they would recover, otherwise the apostle Paul would never have
left Trophimus sick at Miletum, 2 Tim. iv. 20, or sorrowed so much for
Epaphroditus' sickness, if he could so easily have helped it by anointing with
oil, Phil. ii. 27. But now among the Papists it is not given but to those that
are half dead, or at the point of death; so the Council of Florence decreed,
Hoc sacramentum illi de cujus morte non timetur, dari non debet.
3. In
the more common use of it afterward, all were not healed that were anointed;
God gave out his grace and power as he saw good, for the effect did not depend
upon anointing, but the prayer of faith, and if all that were anointed had
recovered, there would have been no mortality in the primitive times. God
wrought then as he worketh now, by the ordinary means, sometimes blessing them,
sometimes leaving them ineffectual, all depending upon his free pleasure and
operation.
4. When it did cease we cannot tell; when it should cease we
may easily judge, if we will but understand the nature, use, and end. The rite
ceased when the gift ceased, which God hath taken from the world almost these
fifteen hundred years. Gifts of healing are coupled with other miraculous
gifts, Mat. x. 8; Mark vi. 13; xvi. 17, 18; and ceased when they ceased. At the
first mission of the apostles to gain the world, Christ invested them with
these gifts. As a tree newly set needeth watering, which afterwards we
discontinue, so after some space of time these dispensations ceased, for
miracles would not have been miracles, but reckoned among ordinary effects, if
still continued. He still provideth for his own, but not in that supernatural
way; and healeth as he seeth cause. When men can restore the effect, let them
restore the rite, otherwise why should we keep up a naked and idle ceremony?
Thus we see when it should cease; but when miracles did cease is not easy to be
defined. If the story be true in Tertullian, they continued some two hundred
years after Christ, for he speaketh of one Proculus, a Christian, that anointed
Severus and recovered him: Premium Christianum qui Torpacion nominabatur,
Evodiae procuratorem, qui eum per oleum aliquando curaverat, et in palatio suo
habuit usque ad mortem ejus. Some suspect the story because of the strangeness
of the names, Proculus and Evodia, and the silence of other authors about this
thing; though Pamele saith that in the Martyrologies, on the Calends of
December, there is mention made of one Proculus, a priest near Rome, in a place
where Severus did use to resort. Ever since that passage there is a deep
silence of it in histories.
5. Popish anointing, or extreme unction, is
a mere hypocritical pageantry. It must be prepared by a bishop, heated with
thus many breathings, enchanted with uttering so many words. The members
anointed are their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and, for greater entireness, the
reins and feet; in women the navel. The form - By this holy oil, and his tender
mercy, piissimam misericordiam, God forgive thee whatever thou hast sinned by
thy sight, thy hearing, thy smell, thy touch. Nay, to make the blasphemy more
ridiculous, Ægidius Conink, a schoolman, saith those words, per piissimam
misericordiam, by his most tender mercy, may be left out. The administrator
must be a priest, may be a bishop; the object, a person that must be believed
to be at the point and danger of death; the end of it they make to be the
expulsion of the relics of sin, healing the soul, and helping it against
temptations, and in the congress with Satan, or combat with the powers of the
air. So the form of Milan and Venice, which are somewhat different from others,
Unguo te oleo sancto in nomine Patris, &c., ut more militis praeparatus,
&c. To propose these things is to confute them; for the most ignorant
cannot but see the great difference between a miracle and a sacrament, curing
the body and the expulsion of sin. Besides, in the circumstances of it there is
a great deal of difference among themselves. But let this suffice; I come to
the points.
Obs. 1. From the supposition is any among you sick? The
note is obvious. Christ's worshippers are not exempted from sickness, no more
than any other affliction. God may chasten those whom he loveth. It is said,
John xi. 3, 'Behold he whom thou lovest is sick.' Those that are dear to God
have their share of miseries. Austin asketh, Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? If
he were beloved, how came he to be sick? In the outward accidents of life God
would make no difference. It is usual in providence that they who have God's
heart should feel God's hand most heavy. I have observed it, that God's
children never question his love so much as in sickness; our thoughts return
upon us in such retirement, and the weakness of the body discomposeth the mind,
and depriveth us of the free exercise of spiritual reason; to sense and feeling
all is sharp. Besides, in sickness we have not that express comfort from
Christ's sufferings which we have in other troubles. It is a sweet help to the
thoughts when we can see that Christ went through every miserable condition to
which we are exposed. Now, Christ endured want, nakedness, trouble, reproach,
injustice, &c., and not sickness. Ay! but he had passions like sickness,
hunger, thirst, and weariness, wherewith his body was afflicted. Christ, by
experience, knoweth what it is to be under the pains and inconveniences of the
body. But if you have not the example of Christ, you have the example of all
the saints. Paul had a racking pain, which lie expresseth by skolops en sarki,
'a thorn in the flesh,' 2 Cor. xii 7-9, and could have no other answer but only
'my grace is sufficient for thee.' He alludeth to such a kind of punishment as
slaves, or men not free, were put to for great offences: they sharpened a
stake, and pointed it with iron, and put it in at his back till it came out at
his mouth, and so with his face upward he died miserably. And, therefore, by
that expression the apostle intendeth some bodily distemper and racking pain;
suppose the stone, the gout, the strangury, inward ulcers, or some like
disease. Of this mind is Cyprian among the fathers; the word astheneia, which
we translate infirmity, but is usually put in the New Testament for sickness,
confirmeth it. Certainly he speaketh of such infirmities in which he would
glory, because of concomitant grace, and such as were apt to cure pride; and
therefore it cannot be meant of sin or some prevailing lust, as is usually
expounded. Therefore comfort yourselves: God's dearest saints may have
experience of sorest sicknesses; and if God afflict you with an aching head,
you will have abundant recompense if thereby he giveth you a better heart; and
if he make your bones sore, bear it, if thereby he breaketh the power of your
corruptions. It is no unusual thing for saints to 'chatter like cranes,' as
Hezekiah did, Isa. xxxviii.; and for healthy souls to be troubled with a weak
body, as Gaius was, 3 John 2. Sicknesses are not tokens of God's displeasure.
It was the folly of Job's friends to judge of him by his calamity. Usually men
smite with the tongue where God hath smitten by his hand. Alas! the children of
God have bodies of the same make with others; and in this case 'all things come
alike to all.' Hezekiah, Job, David, Epaphroditus, they were all corrected, but
not condemned. It was Popish malice to upbraid Calvin with his diseases: 'You
may see what he is,' say they, 'by his sicknesses and diseases.' He was indeed
a man of an indefatigable industry, but of a sickly weak body; and the same
hath befallen many of the precious servants of the Lord.
Obs. 2. From
that let him call for the elders. Note, that the chief care of a sick man
should be for his soul. If any be sick, the apostle doth not say, let him send
for the physician, but the elders. Physicians are to be called in their place,
but not first, not chiefly. It was Asa's fault, 2 Chron. xvi. 12, 'In his
disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the, physicians.' Sickness is God's
messenger to call us to meet with God. Do not as the most do, send for the
bodily physician, and, when they are past all hope and cure, for the divine.
Alas! how many do so, and ere a word of comfort can be administered to them,
are sent to their own place.
Obs. 3. From that let him call. The elders
must be sent for. A man that hath continued in opposition is loath to submit at
the last hour, and to call the elders to his spiritual assistance. I remember,
Aquinas saith, Sacramentum extremes unctionis non nisi petentibus verbo vel
signo dari debet, that this last office must not be performed but to those that
require it. Possidonius, in the life of Austin, saith, that Austin was wont of
his own accord to visit the poor, the fatherless, and the widow, but the sick
never till he was called. It is indeed suitable to true religion to 'visit the
fatherless,' James i. 27; but the sick must call for the elders. Truly
sometimes I have been afraid to prostitute the comforts of Christianity to
persons sottishly neglecting their own souls. I confess sometimes, where we
know our company will not be unwelcome, and in some other cases, we may go
uncalled, that we may learn of our master, and be 'found of them that asked not
for us,' Isa. lxv. 1.
Obs. 4. From that the elders. For our comfort in
sickness it is good to call in the help of the guides and officers of the
church. They, excelling in gifts, are best able to instruct and pray. They can
with authority, and in a way of office, comfort and instruct.; the prayers of
prophets have a special efficacy. So God saith to Abimelech of Abraham, Gen.
xx. 7, 'Go to him, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee.' This was
the special work of the prophets, to pray for the people, and they had more
solemn promises of success: Jer. xxvii. 18, 'If they be prophets, and the word
of the Lord be in them, let them entreat the Lord.' They that speak God's word
to you are fittest to commend your case to God. Well, then, do not despise this
help. Acts done by virtue of an office are under a more solemn assurance of a
blessing: 'Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted,' &c., It is not spoken
to every believer. They can authoritatively minister comfort. It is not false
divinity to say, God will hear their prayers, when he will not hear the prayers
of others: Job xlii. 8, 'Job shall pray for you, and him will I accept, lest I
deal with you after your folly.' Though they were good men, yet God would hear
Job; therefore in Ezekiel Job is proverbially used for a praying prophet. Use
their help then; it is help in the way of an ordinance, and then you may the
better expect a blessing. When Hezekiah was sick, Isaiah, the prophet, cometh
to give him faithful counsel, 2 Kings xx. 1, 2.
Obs. 5. Again from that
the elders. Visiting of the sick should be performed with the joint care of
church officers; it is a weighty work, and needeth many shoulders; the
diversity of gifts for prayer and discourse seemeth to call for it; it is the
last office we can perform to those of whom the Lord hath made us overseers.
Obs. 6. From that let them pray. One necessary work in visiting is
commending sick persons to God, and this prayer must be made by them, or over
them, that their sight may the more work upon us, and our prayers may work upon
them.
Obs. 7. From that and anoint him with oft. From this clause
observe the condescension of God. The first preachers of the gospel of Christ
had power to do miracles: the doctrine itself, being so rational and
satisfactory, deserved belief; but God would give a visible confirmation, the
better to encourage our faith; when Christ had ended his sermon upon the mount,
then he wrought miracles; before, there was a great rest and silence of prodigy
and wonder: John iii. 2, 'We know that thou art a teacher sent from God, for no
man can do such things as thou dost, unless God were with him.' This was the
satisfaction God would give the world concerning the person of the Messiah. Now
those miracles are ceased, Christ having gotten a just title to human belief,
and that we might not be left to uncertainty. The devil can do strange things,
though not such as are truly miraculous; and, therefore, lest we should be
deceived, Christ hath foretold that we can expect nothing but 'the lying
wonders' of Antichrist, 2 Thes. ii. 7, and that 'false Christs shall show great
signs,' Matt. xxiv. 24.
Obs. 8. From that anoint with oil in order to
cure, note, that the miracles done in Christ's name were wrought by power, but
ended in mercy. In the very confirmation of the gospel God would show the
benefit of it. The miracles tended to deliver men from miseries of soul and
body, from blindness, and sickness, and devils, and so best suited with that
gospel which giveth us promises of this life and that which is to come. These
miracles were a meet pursuance of his doctrine; not only confirmations of
faith, but instances of mercy and charity; not miracles of pomp, merely to
evince the glory of his person, but miracles of mercy and actions of relief, to
show the sweetness of his doctrine; as also to teach us that in the gospel God
would chiefly manifest his power in showing mercy.
Obs. 9. From that in
the name of the Lord. All the miracles that were wrought were to be wrought in
Christ's name The apostles and primitive Christians, though they had such an
excellent trust, did not abuse it to serve their own name and interests, but
Christ's; teaching us that we should exercise all our gifts and abilities by
Christ's power to Christ's glory: Ps. li. 16, 'Lord, open my lips, and my mouth
shall show forth thy praise;' that was a right aim. To desire quickening for
our own glory, is but like him that lighted his candle at one of the lamps of
the altar to steal by, or to beg the aid and contributions of heaven for the
service of hell. The name and form was made use of by the sons of Sceva, but to
their own ends, and therefore to their own ruin, Acts xix. 13. To do things in
his name, that is, by abilities received from him, with a pretence to his
glory, when we design our own, will succeed but ill with us, as that attempt
did to them. Christ will be honoured with his own gifts, and, in dispensing
every ability, expecteth the return of praise.
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