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
Practice John 13.12,15 That it was a Symbol of inward Grace c. and that it was afterward practised in the Churches 1 Tim. 5.10 Notwithstanding all which plausible Pleas it cannot be acknowledged to be any Stated Church Ordinance Instituted by Christ For washing of Feet was as frequently used in that Country as Anointing with Oil it being a part of that respective Entertainment which they usually gave to Friends coming to them which they had honour for when the Person of Esteem or Guest came in they called the Servant to bring in Water to wash his Feet and it being the Servants business it was looked upon as Inferiour and Servile and doing thereof by any Person of Rank or Degree was looked upon as a very great denial of himself and Humility Accordingly the Lord Jesus Christ taught his Disciples Humility thereby so that it was used by Him as didactical not by way of Institution of it for a Standing Ordinance in the Church For Jesus Christ being in Bethany two Days before the Feast of the Passover and Supping there Mat. 26.6 Mark 14.3 where Judas was and from whence he went out to betray Him After Supper John 13.4,5 He took Water and a Towel and washed his Disciples Feet which they wondred at that the Master should do that which the most inferiour Servants were wont to do and knew not the meaning of it ver 7. which Christ would have told them had He intended it for a Sacramental Action as He did always in that case Peter in particular in honour to his Master refuseth to let Him wash his Feet ver 6. Christ tells him If He doth not wash him meaning in his Blood as to Justification and Sanctification according to that Heb. 10.22 he had no part in Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imports in me sometimes or of me whereupon Peter desires to be washed all over by Christ at this washing misunderstanding the meaning of Christ thinking He had spoke of his present washing for Christ had said ver 7. Thou knowest not now but thou shalt know afterward i. e. after He had done washing their Feet ver 14 15 16 And Peter seems to apprehend that Christ intended a Sacramental Washing signifying the washing away of Sin therefore saith he wash my Hands c. No saith Christ He that is Sacramentally washed its significant enough if it be but of a part it holds forth the cleansing of the whole and ye are as Individuals clean but not every one the reason of which Saying is given ver 11. he meant Judas was not clean Now after he had held Peter and the Disciples in an aenigmatical Discourse concerning this Action of His during the time thereof ver 12. He takes his Garments sits down and acquaints them with the direct Reason as if He should say You are apt to think this or that but I will tell you the true and direct Reason is to teach you Humility by my Example you ought to do all Acts of Service one for another in all lowliness of Mind as your Lord and Master hath done in taking upon Himself the form of a Servant for your sakes see ver 13 14 15 16 17. and concludes saying Now ye understand these things its well if ye do them as it were foretelling how much a Spirit of Pride and Ambition which He had oft rebuk'd would be too apt to prevail in them and in Ministers of future Ages who would Lord it over the Churches and one another striving who should be greatest See Christ's full meaning of this place by comparing with it Mat. 18.1,2 Luke 22.24,25,27 Mat. 23.8,10,11 Mark 9.34,36 Such another Sacrament the washing the Saints Feet is numbred among the qualifications of a Deaconess 1 Tim. 5.10 because it was an Argument of her Humility and readiness to serve the Saints in any inferiour offices § 12. Finally our Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord over his own House as a Son hath not left his Churches at a loss about so great a concernment as his Sacraments and Seals of the Covenant what of all the Rites used He hath Instituted as such and what not for if He hath so left them we labour under this Difficulty Whether Christ hath Instituted Two Sacraments or more Whether Baptism and the Lord's Supper be only Sacraments Instituted by Him or whether Imposition of Hands Anointing the Sick and Washing of Feet significant Ceremonies also used by Christ and his Apostles be also Sacraments now continued in the Churches But Christ hath been so far from leaving us unresolved in these great Points That of all the Symbolick Ceremonies or any that seem so which were in use in the Primitive Times upon any account He hath given certain Notes or Characteristick Signs by which we know which of them He hath Ordained to continue in the Churches to the end of the World and those are Three especially 1. That the thing signified doth still remain together with the necessary end and use of it to the Churches and all the Members thereof and so it is in Baptism and the Lord's Supper but 't is not so in the other two thereof especially Conferring of Gifts and Miraculous Healing being ceased 2. That in those which He hath appointed to be Standing Symbols in the Church He hath Ordained Solemn Words to be used respectively in the Administration and Application of the said Rites and Elements adapted to the distinct Significancy of each one this is found in Baptism and the Lord's Supper and in none of the rest 3. That which is a distinguishing Mark beyond dispute is this That the Lord Jesus Christ hath expresly continued them to the end of the World Mat. 28.19,20 1 Cor. 11.26 viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper which cannot be said of any of the other Three fore-named Rites and therefore we call them only Primitive Rites used only for some special Reasons appropriate to those Times and not continued as Instituted Ordinances or Symbols and Seals of the Covenant The Things then signified by them being ceased no stated and fixed Words of Administration standing upon Record and no express continuance of them to the coming of Christ or end of the World Therefore we conclude as there remains but Two Sacraments so there are no more Symbolick Rites Instituted for Standing Ordinances in the Churches all the rest of Primitive Date and Use being now Obsolete FINIS Books Printed for Nath. Hiller at the Princes Arms in Leaden-hall-street over against St. Mary Axe THE Righteousness of God through Faith upon all without difference who Believe in Two Sermons on Rom. 3.22 By the Late Reverend Mr. Nathanael Mather Minister of the Gospel Batteries upon the Kingdom of Satan By Mr. Cotton Mather Author of the late Memorable Providences of Witchcraft and of Earthquakes Exemplified The Throne of Grace Discoursed of from Heb. 4.16 By Robert Trayle M. A. Minister of the Gospel A Learned and Accurate Discourse concerning the Guilt of Sin Pardon of that Guilt and Prayer for that Pardon By the Reverend Mr. Tho. Gilbert lately deceased at Oxford Scripture Proof for singing Scripture Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs By E. H. The Conquests and Triumphs of Grace being a Narrative of the Success of the Gospel among the Indians in New-England By Mat. Mahew A Letter to Dr. Bates in Vindication of the Dr. and my self necessitated by Mr. Williams Answer to Mr. Humphreys By Steph. Lob. Pietas in Patriam The Life of his Excellency Sir William Phipps Knt. Late Captain General and Governour of New-England Containing the Memorable Changes undergone and Actions performed by him