in Faith ver 15. in respect of outward or spiritual Wants ver 14. This Duty is first generally recommended as a great and special means by way of Duty to betake our selves unto and most suitable to the Day of Affliction as Singing forth God's Praises is most suitable to the Day of prosperous Enlargements 2. That in Cases of greater Distress especially in such of bodily Distempers when we lie under Pains and Languishments of Body and Spirits from which also arise much darkness and disquietments of Heart and Conscience as also from many Temptations of the evil One as to our Spiritual State insomuch that the poor Decumbent saith when those about him press the Duty here exhorted to in general that he should betake himself to Prayer I cannot Pray by reason of my great Pain or by reason of Unbelief c. you must Pray with me and for me Pray one for another v. 16. I confess I have been a sinful unbelieving hypocritical Wretch if God mark Iniquity all this and much more is less than I deserve and I have now many Fears and Doubts lie upon me If he have sinned i. e. Supposing that he labours under distress of Conscience for Sin in general or for any Sin in particular then saith the Apostle in this case call in the best help you can its not said as is suggested by our Author if his Disease be incurable and he be near Death then it s too late but let the Sickness be what it will curable or incurable threatning approaching Death or not in this and such like Distresses send for the Elders of the Church as well as for the Physician which you are ready to do that they may counsel comfort and Pray with and for the poor Patient with this Caution not to neglect the use of lawful and ordinary Medicinal Means Anointing him one Remedy is here specified by a Synechdoche usual in Scripture of a part for the whole for you should not use Medicines as Asa did trusting to the Physician more than to God nor use them in a heathenish manner without a Solemn Application to the God of Health and Sickness the Father of Spirits that casteth down and raiseth up that killeth and maketh alive therefore use your Remedies in the Name of the Lord according to Col. 3.17 In Obedience to for the Honour of and in the Fear of our Lord Jesus Christ waiting patiently on his Will and Pleasure in the use of all spiritual and lawful outward Means for a Blessing upon them The Motives that the Apostle useth to press this Duty N. B. are laid upon the account of Prayer not upon the account of Anointing as the express end of the Patient 's sending for the Elders is to Pray with him Is any of you sick what should he do should he send for the Physician Yes Or use any Physick Yes But let him in the chief place go unto God send for the Elders rather in the first place not in the last when the Case is past Remedy and hopeless as is usual that they may pray with the Decumbent for a Blessing upon means then use the Physician 's Remedies anoint him if he have a Palsie and weak Limbs or if the Case be otherwise give a Vomit a Purge a Cordial c. in the Name of the Lord And this is to use Physick as Christians ought to do and then he saith not send to the Elders to anoint him or to give him Physick though it may be they did and it s very probable but to Pray with him and so Anoint him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anointing him or applying suitable Remedies in the Name of the Lord. So that the Application of Remedies whether by themselves or others is spoken of but as subordinate Means to be used but not to be depended upon as any way effectual to answer the Decumbents ends without the Blessing of God § 6. Now for the Motives they are annexed to the use of Prayer all along not to the use of Oil I shall but briefly name them 1. The great prevalency of Prayer ordinarily made in Faith to recover a sick Person he lays not the Efficacy upon Oil or the Remedy but saith the Lord being called upon He shall raise him up 2. The prevalency of the Prayer of Faith to bring into the Soul the light of Pardon and Forgiveness and of Spiritual Peace and Comfort 3. Of all means it doth upon Experience prevail most it is most Effectual when performed in Faith with great Fervency and Affection by or for a poor broken-hearted humble and afflicted Believer by the Elders or Brethren ver 16. 4. And lastly He useth the instance of Elias who was so eminently prevailing with God in Prayer for great things of a Temporal Nature on the behalf of others who lay under a Judgment for the reverse of the said Judgment and Salvation from it which prevalency he doth not ascribe to Unction nor seems so much to ascribe to his extraordinary Prophetick Spirit as to the Prayer of Faith therefore fetcheth an Argument there-from to provoke and incite them to Pray for one another or send to the Elders to Pray with such as were in Affliction § 7. The Second Argument to prove that the Apostle had no intent to Ordain any Sacramental Rite or Church Ordinance is this If it had been so he would not have changed the Elementary Ceremony from what Christ had first Ordained to be used after his Resurrection Mark 16.18 where it was Laying on of hands Which Ceremony we read of to be twice used in Recovery of the Sick once in Curing Paul's Blindness by Ananias and another time by Paul in Curing the Father of Publius of a Fever and Bloody Flux Acts 28.8 Now seeing all the Apostles stood by the Elementary Part of Christ's Institution which He Ordained both in Baptism and the Lord's Supper it is not in the least probable that the Apostle James would make any such alteration in a Sacramental Institution nor was led by the Holy Ghost so to do so as to change the Elementary Part from one kind to another from Laying on of Hands to Anointing with Oil. Obj. The Twelve Apostles used Anointing with Oil in miraculous Curing therefore Instituted by Christ Mark 6.13 Ans We find not that that particular Ceremony is there or any where else enjoyned or recommended to them by Christ neither is there ground enough to think that of Laying on of Hands was so Mark 16.18 The words there are a Promise of miraculous Gifts some of which for instance are enumerated as Casting out Devils speaking with new Tongues taking up Serpents without hurt and if they should drink Poison it should not hurt or if they did but lay their Hands on the Sick they should recover Our Author is right in this that the working by extraordinary Gifts was not confined to the use of any one Rite or Ceremony or to some indefinitely for sometimes those miraculous
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING UNCTION AND Washing of Feet PROVING That They be not Instituted Sacraments or Ordinances in the Churches By Isaac Chauncy M. A. LONDON Printed for Nath. Hiller at the Prince's Arms in Leaden-Hall-Street over against St. Mary Axe 1697. A DISCOURSE Concerning Vnction and Washing of Feet Sect. 1. IT hath bin and yet is a matter of Enquiry in the Churches Whether the Triplicity of Primitive Rites viz. Imposition of Hands Vnction and Washing of Feet then in frequent Use do yet remain Standing Ordinances by Divine Institution Some think they be all so but many judge only One so viz. Imposition of Hands concerning which we Discours'd elsewhere Others take the other Two also to be such and indeed I do not see how any of the Three can be fairly excluded if any one be admitted Therefore having seen great Reason to Examine the grounds upon which such Apprehensions are built lest a Yoke should be laid on the Churches which Christ never laid and lest in casting off Antichristian Yokes we should reject the observation of any thing which our Lord Jesus Christ hath commanded the two latter of the forementioned shall here be spoken to And it 's the first of the two Anointing the sick with Oil which we are most concerned in there having bin of late something Published in the Defence of this Assertion That Anointing the Sick with Oil is a standing Ordinance to Confirm the Promise of Healing unto Church-Members The Author whereof having deservedly a Renowned Memorial among the Churches of Christ his Mistake in this Point who so seldom mistook in Points of the highest Nature might be of ill consequence Whether he ever intended the Publishing of the said Paper or ever practised according thereto is much to be questioned but it being now Published it puts us upon a Necessity of speaking something to this Point according to the light which is given us through God's Grace from his Word § 2. The Assertion is grounded on James 5.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Is any one among you weak let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray for him here lieth the stress of the Command anointing him with Oil mentioning this Vnction as a known Circumstance then in Use in the Name of the Lord. Our Renowned Author here tells us that the anointing here mentioned is not the anointing spoken of Mark 6.13 by which the Apostles healed through a Miraculous Gift He should have said the kind of Healing was not the same for the anointing was the same and applied for the same general End viz. Healing And he should have told us where the Promise of Bodily-Healing is made peculiarly to Church-Members and distinct from other good things promised Spiritual and Temporal He saith afterward the Promise is here And he shall be healed But is this bestowed distinctly and apart from forgiveness Doth Healing come by Unction and Forgiveness by Prayer How comes the Promise of Health to have a Seal annexed any more than the Promises of Riches or a supply with Food and Raiment to a poor Saint or the Promise of Honour to such as suffer Reproach for Christ His Arguments are as follows and do tend to prove mostly That the Vnction of James was not extraordinary Arg. 1. Anointing with Oil was joined Jam. 5.14 with the Elders Prayers therefore it 's a standing Ordinance Ans Non seq For extraordinary actions in the Primitive Churches were joined with Prayer As the choosing an Apostle Acts 1. Doth it follow therefore that to choose Apostles is a Standing Ordinance and so was laying Hands on the Seven Deacons chap. 4. The actions of Elders or ordinary Christians are all as to this under a general Command Phil. 4.6 Arg. 2. All Precepts in this Epistle concern the Church for ever Therefore this Ans The Antecedent wants proof for one may not though the rest may 2. The Antecedent and Consequent may be granted and yet the Question not concluded for the Precept here rightly understood may concern the Church for ever Arg. 3. From the Persons that were to be sent to viz. The Elders of the Church 1. He saith not send for men who had the Healing Gifts but for the Elders of the Church Ans There was no need of saying otherwise then as in the next Age because Elders had ordinarily healing Gifts either extraordinarily as the Apostles had for they were indefinitely bestowed on the Church 1 Cor. 12.9 and therefore as on Brethren so on Elders most especially Or Elders had ordinary healing Gifts practised as Physicians from the example of Christ and his Apostles and therefore the Elders might rather than others be sent for having Abilities to heal the one way or the other The Elders during the Apostolick Times and afterward from the Examples of Christ and his Apostles exercised themselves in healing the Sick as well as in Preaching the Word being qualified thereto by an extraordinary Gift or by an ordinary acquired Gift and skill Medicinal so Luke healed and undoubtedly divers Elders 2. Who were standing Officers of a Church which was to continue Ans Though Elders and Churches were to continue yet it follows not that what Gifts of Healing were in some should successively continue to all that were to follow 3. The Elders in every Church had not that Gift Ans That wants proof it s most likely the Elders in every Church at that time had extraordinary or ordinary Gifts and if all had not the Apostle may understand those that had or that the Elders should come to assist by Prayer whenever the Healer came to heal and they supervising it it s spoken of as though they did it 4. The Gifts of Healing and Prophecy were variously bestowed as to those that were not Apostles and Evangelists 1 Cor. 12.8,9 Ans They might be ordinarily so but it follows not that it was so always there 's nothing said to demonstrate that they who had the gift of Prophecy had not the gift of Healing for there 's as much to prove that such as had the gift of Prophecy had not the gift of Tongues and Interpretation Arg. 4. Is taken from the Persons to be healed 1. If it had been extraordinary healing it would have extended further to Blind Leaf Dumb c. Ans How doth it appear that it extends not to these the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may take in any Sickness Weakness or Infirmity of Body and we know that many so affected as Deaf and Dumb have been cured by Medicinal Remedies 2. They were Members of the Church not Vnbelievers Ans The Members of the Church were most immediately and knowingly obliged but undoubtedly if an Extra-Ecclesian had sent for the Elders of the Church upon the same account the Elders would have gone to him prayed over him and anointed him as if he had been a Member and the promise of Healing and Forgiveness of Sins is as much to such Miraculous Healing did extend
Works were wrought without any as in the Text of Mark 16. sometimes by only Speaking sometimes by Napkins c. Acts 3.7,16 14.10 16.18 9.17,34,40 28.8 And accordingly when they wrought by this Gift they sometimes used some small Rite such as touching with the Hand or Anointing with Oil as Christ did the Eyes of the Blind with Clay and Spittle which Judicious Persons could not think had any natural Virtue to produce the Effect that so all that were Witnesses thereof could not but acknowledge that what was wrought was immediately from God and could not be done any other way Hence the Twelve Apostles on their first Mission in healing the Sick took a Rite that was in ordinary use among the Jews as a weak and common Medicine among them and in those Eastern Parts known to have no great Efficacy in it to be admired not so much as a Carduus Posset with us and this is the Circumstance demonstrating their Miraculous Gift Mark 6.13 that as they cast out Devils whether by any Rite is not mentioned so they Recovered the Sick only Anointing them with Oil. And herein Christ's Miracles and his Apostles differed from those seeming ones wrought by Charms and by a Diabolick Confederacy that the Devil strictly ties up his Operators to all the Circumstances of his Imposed Rites but thus Christ did not § 8. The Anointing spoken of by James doth not appear by any or all the Reverend Author's Arguments not to be a Rite attending an extraordinary Gift For it is manifest that during the Lives of the Apostles such extraordinary Gifts were in the Churches 1 Cor. 12.4,9,10 And it was during that time that the Apostle must write these things and if many ordinary Brethren wrought and spake by them then why not the Elders much more And that some such were bestowed on Timothy in the use of the Rite of Laying on of Hands is not to be doubted and if it was in use to lay Hands on all Elders of Churches as many say it was and this Author making it a Sacrament why should not all Elders have this Gift especially for the good of the Churches a great part of their Office lying in Visiting the Sick It seems to be strange what was the Reason why the Apostles at their first Mission used Vnction and we read not of the use of it afterwards I conceive it was because the Lord Jesus before his Ascension mentioned another Mark 16.18 though not enjoyning it but his mentioning it seem'd to intimate to them that of the two He rather approved of that of Laying on of Hands in Healing of the Sick than of Vnction § 9. Yet we are not of the Opinion that James intends Healing by an extraordinary Gift But therefore it follows not that the Unction mentioned by him was a Divine Institution an Ordinance yea Sacrament as our Author would have it to continue in the Churches as we have abundantly evinced But it was a third Thing only an Instance of ordinary Means with Direction to a due Christian Way and Manner of the Administration thereof That Anointing with Oil was frequently used by the Jews to Exhilarate and Refresh doth appear by Scripture and the not using it was a sign of Mourning 2 Sam. 14.2 Psal 23.5 Mat. 6.17 And therefore they did use it to the Sick as a common Medicine that did at least refresh and revive the weak and dispirited Patient Dr. Lightfoot tells us from the Talmud which upon search proves to be so That the Jews were wont to Anoint upon a three-fold Account 1. For Ornament which was forbidden on Days of Expiation and was not used on Days of Mourning 2. That they Anointed with Oil for Healing of Diseases hence saith the Dr. the Apostles Counsel as referring to this Medicinal Practice is That it be improved to the best advantage and therefore adviseth to send for the Elders of the Church to do it not that there was any more in their doing it than in anothers but that with the applying this Corporal Medicine they might Pray with the Patient and apply Spiritual Physick c. which is as much in our Nation as if a Patient taking Physick should send for the Minister to Pray with him 3. It was used also by the ill Jews with Charming and Muttering over the Patient c. whereupon the Doctor thinks it may be supposed also That the Apostle observing this Abuse in some of an ordinary and good Medicine directs Christians to a quite contrary way to send for the Elders of the Church c. See Harmon p. 333. § 10. In a Word If Vnction of the Sick be used otherwise than the third of them before-mentioned viz. Diabolick it must be upon one of these following accounts 1. As a Rite annexed to a Gift of miraculous Healing Thus it s not intended here as our Learned Author would prove by many Arguments but hath fallen short in his design as hath been proved though we judge also it was not such Vnction that the Apostle intends 2. Or as a Sacramental Rite or Symbol to continue in the Church 3. To produce a natural Effect as other Medicaments If it be said we are to use it in the first Sense 1. There must be Faith of Miracles both in the Anointer and Anointed 2. If so it will have certain effect on every one to whom it is duly Administred for so we find it had in the primitive Times Mark 6.13 3. The miraculous Gift being ceased and the Faith thereof it s much folly to use the Rite at all 2. If it be pleaded for as our Author doth as a Symbolick and Sacramnetal Rite Instituted for continuance in the Church we have shew'd that it cannot be grounded upon this place nor on any other and many Absurdities will follow on such an Assertion And it must necessarily follow that the other Primitive Ceremonies viz. Imposition of Hands and washing of Feet are also Sacraments to continue whence we shall have Five Sacraments in the Churches and come within Two of the Papists number of Sacraments 3. If Vnction be used on the third account as a natural Remedy then it must be used in such a measure and way as that it may have a Medicinal Effect touching or crossing the Body with the Finger dipt in a little Oil will not do it must be rubb'd and chaf'd in to the part affected or some principal Part must be well suppled with it and it s without doubt that it s no Medicine in our Country there are many found to be much better inward and outward than to Anoint the Body with Oil Olive less or more § 11. Upon the like if not greater ground that Vnction of the Sick or Imposition of Hands are pleaded to be standing Sacraments in the Churches may also Washing of Feet it being profest to be such by the Papists who also plead from a wrong Sense of Scripture that it was Instituted by Christ's Command and Exemplary