the End of his Epistle Pag. 36 § 7. Objections against our Interpretation answered Pag. 41 § 8. That St. James 's Text affords useful Admonitions though it is far from establishing a Sacrament of Extreme Vnction Pag. 45 PART II. That 't is a late Innovation and has no ground in Antiquity Sect. 1. What Anointings were used in the antient Church Pag. 49 § 2. That the Vnction of the Sick in the Antient Church confirms our Interpretation of St. Mark and St. James Pag. 54 § 3. That Extreme Vnction has not the Testimony of any Antient Pope Pag. 54 § 4. Nor of any Antient Council Pag. 73 § 5. Nor of any Antient Father Pag. 79 § 6. That the Silence of Antiquity and the Circumstances with which it is to be taken are a positive Proof that Extreme Vnction has not the Tradition of the Antients but is a notorious Innovation Pag. 87 § 7. Of the Occasions and Beginnings of Extreme Vnction How vast a Change it made from the Primitive Vnction and by what Degrees it was made Pag. 94 § 8. That this Innovation was not Vniversal the Vnction of the Greek Church at this day being not Extreme Vnction but that of the Antients Pag. 108 PART III. That the Appeal to Reason in behalf of this pretended Sacrament is altogether vain Sect. 1. THat the pretence to prove any thing to be a Sacrament by mere Reason is an absurd Presumption Pag. 110 § 2. That the Reason brought to prove that Extreme Vnction was fit to be instituted has not so much as any probability Pag. 116 § 3. That more congruous Reasoning may be offered against it than for it Pag. 123 § 4. An Apology for this Controversy about Extreme Vnction from the great moment of it Pag. 125 § 5. The Church of England and other Protestant Churches justified in not anointing the Sick at all Pag. 130 § 6. An Address to the Laity of the Roman Communion Pag. 134 ERRATA Pag. 96. line 10. for Sacred r. Second Pag. 103. for § ix r. § viii OF Extreme Unction PART I. That the places of Scripture produced for it are against it §. I. What the Doctrine of the Roman Church is concerning Extreme Unction HOW well soever they may agree in the practice of Extreme Vnction in the Roman Church yet as to the Doctrine of it their most celebrated Writers have (a) Vid. Dalleum de Extr. Unct. c. 2. fall'n so foully one against another that to know what it is from them would cost more pains than the Thing is worth And therefore we will be content and surely our Adversaries will be so too to take it as it is laid down by the Council of Trent Which Council has given too much advantage for us to desire any more from the Sentiments of private Authors which as they without cause complain we so often combat while we pretend all along to attaque the Established Doctrine of the Church But if the Reasons upon which the Council proceeded in its Decrees were not so convincing as to satisfy all of that Communion but very great Men amongst themselves have been of contrary Opinions concerning them this we have no Obligation upon us to dissemble how unwilling soever they may be to hear of it I know well enough that an undue Advantage may be made of the Testimonies of Authors and of the Concessions of Adversaries which are sometimes used to underprop a Cause that wants Truth at the bottom and has therefore no Foundation of its own But so long as the Arguments and the Answers which we produce in this Cause are good ones I hope they will not be thought worse of if some of them seemed good also to some Men of no mean Figure in the Church of Rome And now let us see in the First place what the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is concerning this pretended Sacrament The Council of Trent (b) Sess 14. has delivered it in this manner First of all concerning the Institution of this Sacrament the Holy Synod declares and teaches that our most gracious Redeemer who would have his Servants at all times provided with Saving Remedies and Defences against all the Weapons of all their Enemies as he has by other Sacraments supplied Christians with those mighty Aids by which they may in the Course of their Life keep themselves unhurt by all the greater Mischiefs that can happen to their Souls so by the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction he has set a most sure Guard about them to make good the end of their Life For tho our Adversary does all our Life long seek and catch at every occasion by any means to devour our Souls yet there is no time when he strains more vehemently to exert the utmost of his Craft to ruine us utterly and if he can possibly to bereave us of all Trust in the Mercy of God then when he perceives the end of our Life to be at hand But this Holy Vnction of the Sick was Instituted by our Lord Christ as a Sacrament of the New Testament truly and properly so called Insinuated indeed by St. Mark but recommended and published to the Faithful by St. James the Apostle and Brother of our Lord. Says he Is any one Sick c. In which Words as the Church has learned by Apostolical Tradition delivered from hand to hand he teaches the Matter the Form the proper Minister and Effect of this Saving Sacrament For the Church has understood the Matter thereof to be Oil Blessed by a Bishop For this Vnction does most fitly represent the Grace of the Holy Ghost by which the Soul of the sick Person is invisibly annointed And that the Form thereof is this By this Holy Vnction and by his most Holy Mercy God forgive thee whatsoever Sin thou hast committed by seeing by hearing by tasting by smelling and by touching Amen Which Form is repeated severally in anointing the seat of each Sense and according to the (c) Decret Eugenii IV. in Conc. Florent Catech. ad Paroc de Extr. U. §. 21. Florentine Fathers in anointing the Feet also for the Sins of walking and the Reins for the Sensuality that reigned there Moreover the thing signified and the effect of this Sacrament is explained in these Words And the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed Sins they shall be forgiven him For the thing here signified is the Grace of the Holy Ghost whose anointing cleanseth from Transgressions if any yet remain to be expiated and from the Reliques of Sin and easeth and strengthneth the Soul of the sick Person by exciting in him a great confidence in the Divine Mercy whereby he is in that manner supported that the Trouble and Pain which he sustains by his Sickness becomes more tolerable and he resists more easily the Temptations of the Devil now closely lying in wait for him and sometimes when it is expedient for the Welfare of
the Soul obtains the recovery of his Bodily Health But then as to the Persons who are designed whether to receive or to administer this Sacrament this also is delivered and that not obscurely in the foregoing Words For it is there shewn that the proper Ministers of this Sacrament are the Presbyters of the Church by which Word here we are not to understand the more Aged or Honourable amongst the People but either Bishops or Priests c. It is declared also that this Unction is to be ministred to the Sick but to those especially who are so dangerously ill that they seem to be past Recovery whence it is also called the †Sacramentum excuntium Sacrament of the Dying If the sick Persons recover after having received this Unction they may again be relieved by it when the like danger of Death happens Wherefore they are by no means to be hearkened to who against the manifest and clear Sense of the Apostle James teach either that this Unction is a device of Men or a Rite received from the Fathers that has neither a Divine Command nor a Promise of Grace and who assert that it is of no longer use as having been applied in the Primitive Church to the Gift of Healing only or who say that the Rite and Usage of the Holy Roman Church in the Administration of this Sacrament is repugnant to the Sense of St. James and therefore to be altered Lastly who affirm that this Extreme Unction may without Sin be contemn'd by the Faithful For all these things are most evidently contrary to the perspicuous Words of so great an Apostle c. So that in the Church of Rome Extreme Unction is a Sacrament administred to dying Persons the proper Effect whereof is the cleansing of them from the Remains of Sin by the Grace of the Holy Ghost and as appears by the Form of Words used in the Administration it is applied in order to the forgiveness of all Sins that have been committed by means of any of the Senses That Authority which they pretend for this Sacrament is indeed the highest for they say it was instituted by Christ The proof which they produce for this Institution is that it was insinuated by St. Mark and publish'd by St. James That the Evangelist did insinuate it and the other Apostle publish it we have the Word and Authority of the Council of Trent But I will be bold to say that if Men are not content to rely upon the Authority of the Council but will examine its proofs they may easily be convinced that neither did St. James publish nor St. Mark insinuate any such Doctrine or Practice as it has established And therefore the wisest Passage in the Declaration of the Council concerning this matter is that they are by no means to be hearkened unto who teach otherwise than it teaches For if we can but persuade Men to give us the hearing or the reading we are very confident to make it plain that not our Objections against this pretended Sacrament but their Pleas for it are most evidently contrary to the perspicuous Words both of the Evangelist who is said to insinuate it and of the Apostle who is said to publish it §. 2. That Extreme Unction can by no means be proved from St. James chap. v. 14 15. THE clearest proof they have for this pretended Sacrament are doubtless those Words of St. James ch v. 14 15. Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with Oil in the Name of the Lord And the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed Sins they shall be forgiven him Now supposing that the Institution of a Sacrament were implied in these Words and that the outward Sign thereof were anointing with Oil yet this could not by any means be the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction in the Church of Rome For according to St. James the Sick Person was to be anointed in order to the raising of him up or his Recovery from Sickness But the Sick are anointed in that Church for purging away the remains of their Sins when they seem to be past hopes of Recovery And tho perhaps one or other may recover afterward yet this is meerly accidental and besides the intention of administring their Sacrament which they therefore call the Sacrament of the Dying Nay the Sick Person in St. James was not to be anointed only in order to his Recovery but his Recovery was certainly to follow for 't is said the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall raise him up Which one Observation is sufficient to overthrow all the hope they have in this Text. For St. James does indeed advise anointing with Oil but 't is in such a Case when most assuredly the sick Person should not die The Church of Rome also does require the same but 't is when nothing can be well expected but the Death of the Patient Now which way they can gather a Sacrament of Extreme Vnction from an Authority that requires an Vnction which is not Extreme how they can prove a Sacrament which they pretend to be proper for dying Persons from those Words of Scripture that mention a Rite never used upon dying Persons a Man must have a great deal of Wit or rather a good share of the contrary to be able to imagine Which one thing seems to have been so well considered by †Bellar. de Extr. Unct. c. 3. Dico secundo illa verba duo c. Bellarmin and others after him that they found it necessary to interpret these Words The Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall raise him up not so much of restoring Health to the Body as of cleansing forgiving and quieting the Soul And so they have made St. James to use Expressions in such a Sense as never Man of Understanding did either before or after him till the Cause of the Church of Rome made it necessary for these Men to interpret Words against all Rules of Speaking For according to the perpetual use of Words what is it to save the Sick but to save him from his Sickness What is it to raise up a sick Man but to restore him to Health And who would interpret these Expressions otherwise but they whose Cause is desperate if they be not otherwise interpreted But if it be asked what Grounds they pretend for this Liberty of Interpretation you must know that the Word saving indifferently refers to the healing of the Body or to the restoring of the Soul and the Word raising tho properly used of something that belongs to the Body yet by a Metaphor frequently used in Scripture signifies also to drive away sadness and dulness from the Mind Which is true indeed but nothing to the purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For tho these Words saving and raising may have
different Significations according to the different matters spoken of yet 't is but one thing which they signify when they are restrain'd by some peculiar matter For instance to raise is a Word that may be used to express either awakening one that sleeps or bringing one that is careless to attention or comforting the sorrowful or recovering a Sick Man or giving Life to one that is Dead But will any Man in his Wits unless he be carried away by the Service of a Cause affirm that to raise him that sleeps does indifferently signify all the other things and not only awakening him out of his Sleep By the same Reason to raise the Sick can signify nothing but to raise him from his Sickness and to restore him to Health And tho Bellarmin who was resolved to say something for every thing was not ashamed to lay down so absurd an Exposition as the other is upon Grounds so frivolous yet 't is a wonderful thing that (d) Comment in Ep. p. 1144. Par. Estius should come after him and trifle as the other does and almost in his very Words Which in such a Man as he was who sometimes freely used the good Judgment which he had is one of the greatest Instances that I ever met with of the Power of Prejudice and the necessity they are under of going beneath themselves that are forced to serve a Party For Estius upon this place had but a little before acknowledged that the health of the Body is signified by this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall save according to the Exposition of almost all Interpreters And then he adds very judiciously that since the Apostle spake of Bodily Sickness it is agreeable to the Rules of speaking to understand the saving which follows of Health of the same kind that is of Bodily Health But then by what Authority must we understand these Words saving and raising of purifying and restoring the Soul too Why says he we are not however to exclude the understanding of the Welfare and Health of the Soul under these Words Would one believe that a Man of Judgment should talk so pitifully For if the Health of the Body only be expressed by the Words in Question which is as plain as any thing needs to be made by Words then altho the Health of the Soul is not excluded thereby yet the understanding of the Souls Health by these Words is to be excluded or we must for ever despair of knowing how much and no more is signified by plain Words If I promise a Man Food my Words indeed do not exclude giving of him Raiment too but they exclude any other meaning but what the Words signify which is that I will give him Food As for the reason added by Estius why the Health of the Soul is not to be excluded viz. because bodily Health is referr'd here to the Safety of the Soul 't is a most lamentable reason for understanding this by that since it will hold as well for understanding the Health of the Soul by the Sickness of the Body which is every whit as much referred to the Health of the Soul as the Health of the Body is The plain truth of the Case is this it is so evident that St. James by these Words means nothing else but the Recovery of Bodily Health that these Men are forced to Shifts that were never heard of before to make something else to be understood by them because otherwise their Sacrament is lost That St. James does mean Bodily Health is a Truth that stares them so fully in the Face that they are not able to dissemble it not Bellarmin himself (e) Bellar. de Extr. Unc. ◠c. iii. §. Quod autem nec loquatur c. Ad secundum Argumentum c. c. viii secundnomine tho he will not allow the gift of Healing to be meant And therefore to draw some faint resemblance between the use of their Extreme Vnction and that use of Vnction which is mentioned in St. James they are forced to pretend one effect of their Sacrament to be the cure of the Body so far as it is expedient as Pope (f) Eugen. Decret in Conc. Flor. Eugenius IV says and when it is expedient for the wellfare of the Soul as says the Council of Trent Nay Bellarmin tells us That †Bell. de Ex. U. c. iii. Respondeo inungit Ecclesia c. the Church anoints those who are in danger of Death for then supernatural Remedies are to be sought to when there is no hope left in those that are natural And tho sick Persons are anointed that they may be healed if it be expedient to their Eternal Salvation yet 't is rightly called Extreme Vnction because 't is the last in respect of those Vnctions which we receive in other Sacraments in Baptism in Confirmation and in Orders One may wonder at this till he knows the reason of it which is that he was now answering that grievous Objection against their arguing from St. James that their Vnction is indeed Extreme because it is given to dying Persons but St. James meant not an Extreme Vnction because he would have it administred to those that were to be healed How sadly the Cardinal was put to it to get over this Difficulty is evident from his Answer where he gives such a Reason why their Vnction is called Extreme as neither stands with their practice in anointing nor with the use of the Word Extreme nor with the * Vid. Dalleum de Extr. Unct. c. ii Judgment of the Divines of that Church who generally affirm with the Council of Trent that Unction is appointed for the Relief of those that are going out of the World and conclude that it is therefore called Extreme Vnction because it is not to be given till the Sickness is desperate But when a Man is not able to stand before an Objection that is against him he must seem to say the same thing that the Objection says as Bellarmin here does who one would think by these Words makes the Recovery of the Patient the immediate end of their Unction and will not allow the Unction to be called Extreme as if it intimated the sick Man's hastning to the period of his Life But does it at any time appear that their Unction restores a sick Man to Health or that they so much as expect it Is any such effect expressed in the Form of Administration or any thing more than the forgiveness of Sins that are committed by means of the Senses Nay do not they call this the Sacrament of Dying Persons and to be given especially to those that seem to be departing out of this Life Does not (g) Ibid. c.v. Bellarmin himself argue for their Extream Vnction from the convenience of being provided with a Sacrament to strengthen us in our Departure out of this World Nay does not the Council of Trent tell us that by the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction God has
Apostle should make a Supposition of such a special Case as that of the Anointed Person 's having committed Sins if Unction was prescribed as a Sacrament for the Remission of Sins For the Supposition taken with the rest of the period plainly enough implies a Direction to anoint the sick Person for whom the Prayer of Faith was made whether he had committed Sins or not only if he had committed Sins they should be forgiven him Whatever St. James means here by having committed Sins it is yet evident that this was not the Case of all that were anointed and therefore whatever is meant also by the Forgiveness of Sins in this place neither was this promised to all that were anointed which seems to be a shrewd Argument that he did not prescribe Unction as a Sacrament for the Remission of Sins Especially if it be considered that the Case of all that were anointed was this that they were Sick and that the Promise absolutely made to all that were anointed was the Recovery of their Health for this shews as clearly on the other side that St. James's Unction was the Ceremony of a miraculous Cure of the Body Surely if we are to gather the meaning of this Rite from the Words of the Text where it was prescribed we are rather to refer it to that Effect which the Apostle tells us would certainly and always follow viz. the Recovery of Health than to that which would never follow but in a special Case viz. the Forgiveness of Sins And 't is certain that St. James makes the constant Effect of his Unction to be the Recovery of Bodily Health and he assures us that sometimes the Forgiveness of Sins would follow We therefore say that his Unction was properly a Rite of the Gift of Healing and thus it always signified something But our Adversaries will needs have it that his Unction was a Sacrament and that the proper end of it was Remission of Sins and that the Recovery of Bodily Health was a Thing by the Bye which fell out now and then as it might be expedient i. e. They will have the Apostle to promise Bodily Health as a Thing by the Bye in Words that express an absolute Promise of it and they will have him promise Forgiveness of Sins to all upon the due use of Unction in Words that manifestly suppose that he promises it but to some only and consequently that he established an Unction which would always be a Sacrament and yet sometimes would be no Sacrament at all I think therefore that I may conclude For any Man to make anointing the Sick to be a constant Means and Sign of that Grace which could not take place in many of those who were qualified for Unction and were duly anointed according to the Direction of the Apostle is to make the Apostle talk very vainly that himself might not seem to do so And not to make that to be the end and meaning of his Unction which took place in all that were anointed is to make the Apostle mean what we list and not what his Words mean If indeed St. James had said Is any sick among you Let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with Oil in the Name of the Lord and his Sins shall be forgiven him and if it be expedient for the good of his Soul the Prayer of Faith shall also save the Sick and the Lord shall raise him up Had it been thus I say I would know if our Adversaries would not have exclaimed against us as the most obstinate Persons in the World if we had either denied forgiveness of Sins or affirmed the recovery of Bodily Health to be the true and proper end of that Unction whereof the Apostle speaks But now his Words are quite otherwise for on the other side the promise of Bodily Health is absolute and belongs to all that are anointed and that of forgiveness of Sins is conditional and belongs only to those who have committed Sins Let our Adversaries therefore judg impartially for once and if they do then I am sure they will reason against their own Sense of this place from the Apostles Words as they now stand as they would have argued against ours if they had stood as fairly for them as they do for us But to see how any thing will serve for an Argument in a desperate Case Bellarmin would make us believe that these very Words And if he have committed Sins they shall be forgiven him Bell. de Extr. Unct. c. iii. §. Quinto Et si in peccatis c. do so clearly bring the Text on their side that there is no room for Evasion For these Words says he expresly refer to the Soul but the Gift of Healing belongs to the Body A wonderful Reason surely But must not the Apostle speak of a Spiritual Effect which in one Case is consequent upon Unction of the Sick but it must always be the thing signified and intended by it and this tho he manifestly supposes that the Spiritual Effect is not and plainly tells us what is the constant Signification and Effect of it When Men of parts take invincible Arguments against their own Opinion and pretend that they are unanswerable Proofs for it what shall a Man say to it but that they labour under invincible Prejudice or something that is a great deal worse It appears already from that passage concerning Forgiveness of sins that the Anointing in St. James was properly a Rite that referred to the Gift of Healing And this will farther appear by considering what must be the sense of those words And if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him It may seem strange that the Apostle should make the anointed persons having committed sins the matter of a supposition as if some that were to be anointed had committed no sins at all But now because without all Question neither was the Apostles supposition vain and idle nor is it true of any mere Man that he never sinned therefore by committing sins the Apostle did not mean simply and absolutely having sinned but with reference to that matter only whereof he was then speaking viz. that bodily sickness which was to be removed by the Gift of Healing So that the meaning must necessarily be this And if he has committed such sins as it pleased God to punish by visiting him with sickness they shall be forgiven him Besides those places where committing and not committing sin are to be understood with some qualification such as that y 1 Joh. iii. 8 9. He that committeth sin is of the Devil And whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin and he cannot sin because he is born of God There is one saying of our Saviour that requires the same Interpretation with this passage in St. James z Joh. ix 2 3. When his Disciples asked him Master who did sin this man or his parents that he was born
are those which he urges here Confession and Repentance on the part of the sick Man and then the Prayer of the Elders on his behalf which would certainly prevail for his recovery no less than in any other Case if it was the Prayer of Faith mentioned before But if the Prayer here spoken of were not the Prayer proceeding from a persuasion that the sick would be healed but the ordinary Prayer of the Faithful one for another imploring the recovery of the sick person if it should seem good to God then this Exhortation may well be conceived to run thus But whether the Elders be instructed by the spirit that the Gift of Healing is in the Case last mentioned to take place or no yet let the sick person confess his faults and then let the Elders pray for him that he may be healed which God may be pleased to grant though not in the way of demonstrating that extraordinary Gift of Healing which is so frequently seen in the Church And if this be the meaning no wonder that there is no mention here of Anointing with Oil which was a Ceremony proper to that Gift But let the meaning be this or that we have this advantage from the place that the effect of Confession and Prayer here expressed is no other than that the person might be healed i. e. recover his bodily health which is a farther Confirmation that St. James had not before directed to the use of a Sacrament for the Soul but to the use of that Gift then flourishing in the Church which was for the saving of the Body though that also was designed for the good of Souls as indeed all other miraculous operations were and all the gifts of God whatsoever And this is so great an advantage in favour of our Conclusion concerning the intent of St. James's Unction in the former Verse that here also our Adversaries do find it necessary to pervert the meaning of those plain words that ye may be healed and to interpret them of the delivering of the Soul from sin Est in loc as Estius does in particular and that upon no other ground but because Health in the Scriptures is often referred to the Soul But concerning the extravagance of this interpretation I have spoken already § 2. 2. It follows The effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man availeth much i. e. it availeth sometimes to the producing of strange and sudden effects as the example of Elias shews which is immediately added which is a good argument to back the foregoing Exhortation of confessing to one another and praying one for another supposing that those Prayers of good Men are to be understood which are grounded upon the general promises of God only But to me it seems more probable that the Prayer of Faith is still meant because of the instance of Elias his Prayer by which the Apostle does presently illustrate his meaning And to this notion the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Effectual fervent is very favourable because it aptly signifies that incitation and impulse of the Holy Spirit which operates the Prayer of Faith But altho this sense appears reasonable I will not stand upon it if equal reason can be given for another It will be sufficient to my purpose to observe That altho the prevalency of a good mans Prayer is here affirmed in general terms and tho without all question such a Mans earnest Prayer is very forcible for the obtaining of spiritual benefits which is the best force they have yet the Case of which he spake just before that ye may be healed limits his meaning of that power of Prayer which he speaks of here to that of producing temporal effects Which limitation is required no less by that which follows 3. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and three months And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit Now that both in the one Case and in the other the Prayer of Elias was the Prayer of Faith in the sense so often already mentioned cannot justly be questioned for as we know from St. James that he prayed that it might not rain and again that it might rain so we know by the History of the Old Testament that he expresly and absolutely foretold to Ahab both the * 1 Ki xviii 1. one and the ‖ xvii 41 c. other And it is evident that this is an instance of the power of Prayer to produce temporal effects of a surprising and wonderful nature which makes the instance pertinent to what he had been speaking of before Nor is it incongruous to observe That as the withholding of rain for so long time upon Elias his Prayer does in part answer the Case of a Sinners being smitten with sickness for his transgression so the sending of rain upon the Prayer of Elias does fully answer the Case of the sick Mans recovery by means of the Prayer of Faith And now I may appeal to the Judicious Reader whether our Adversaries making St. James's Unction to be a Sacrament for the immediate benefit of the Soul does not imply it to be brought in without any coherence or pertinence to those passages which lie about it and whether there be not a clearly pertinent Connexion from one end to the other supposing it to be mentioned as a Ceremony of the Gift of Healing As for their referring all to the Soul that is here said with reference to Anointing it carries indeed a show of Piety and but a show unless it were a pious thing to found a Doctrine upon a place of Scripture that will not bear it What they say to this purpose is very true but 't is not the meaning of the Text. Their fault is that they introduce it in the wrong place But if they would be content to bring it in where St. James brings it in they had both kept to the true interpretation of his words and withal secured the observation of that most necessary Point That how great temporal blessings soever we receive from God they are not yet to be compared with our spiritual interests and our concerns in another Life 4. For St. James having finished his Discourse concerning the Healing of the Sick does immediately close all with this instruction Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him Let him know that he who converteth the Sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins As if he had said After all when any Christian does by wicked practise depart from the truth which he professes and one of his Brethren by charitable admonitions and by earnest Prayers to God for him brings him into the way of his duty again let him know that this is
of Anointing the Sick in that Church as the Ritual it self speaks in these words (t) Ibid. p. 412. Regard favourably our prayers who meet in thy holy Temple this day to anoint thy infirm persons with holy Oyl This goes before the Consecration of the Oyl But after that (u) Ibid. p. 417. the Priest takes the holy Oil and anoints him that is to receive the Vnction and is to be prayed for saying the following Prayer Holy Father the Physician of Souls and Bodies who didst send thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ healing every disease and redeeming us from death heal this thy servant of his bodily and spiritual disease which has laid hold upon him and revive him through the Grace of thine Anointed by the Intercessions of our Holy Lady the Mother of God c. By the Protection of the Heavenly Incorporeal Powers by the virtue of the precious and life-giving Cross of John the Baptist the Apostles the Martyrs and our Godlike Fathers the Holy Physicians that received no Fees Cosmas and Damian Cyrus and John Pantaleon and Hermolaus c. In this Prayer indeed here is a great deal of wretched stuff of another kind but not a word that looks towards Extreme Vnction the whole relating to the intention of the Antient Unction which was to recover the Sick and therefore the Priest pleads in particular the Intercession of those Saints that were said to have been particularly famous for the cure of Diseases And that which is remarkable in the case is this that the Rubrick requires every one of the other six Priests when he anoints the Sick to use this very Prayer which plainly shews that every one of them anoints for the same end and purpose Neither is it any advantage towards the Roman pretence that the Priest prays also for the cure of the spiritual infirmity which holds the sick person it being evident as Simeon Thessalonicensis observes that the disease of the body being inflicted for the sin of the soul the cause is to be removed that the effect may cease Nor indeed is it fit that we should pray for any blessing of this life without imploring Gods pardon of those sins which make us unworthy of it At length the second Priest prays (w) Ibid. pag. 418. O God great and high who art adored by every creature c. look upon and hearken unto us thy unworthy servants and when in thy name we bring forth this Oyl do thou send forth the medicines of thy free gift and the pardon of sins and according to the multitude of thy mercies heal these persons c. Then the Third Priest to the same purpose * Ib. p 420. Almighty Lord Holy King who dost chastise and not deliver to death who supportest those that fall and settest straight those that are broken and repairest the bodily infirmities of men we beseech thee O our God to send forth thy Mercy upon this Oyl and upon those that are anointed with it in thy Name that it may become to them the healing both of Soul and Body their deliverance from all grief and every disease and malady and lastly from all defilement of Flesh and Spirit So Lord send thou from Heaven thy healing Virtue Do thou touch the Body extinguish the Fever mitigate the pain and expel every hidden Infirmity Be thou the Physitian of this thy Servant raise him up from the Bed of grief and the Couch of sickness Be pleased to restore him safe and every way healthy to thy Church to please thee and to do thy will Of the same nature are the Prayers of the following Priests this being repeated after every Gospel in each administration We still pray for Mercy Life Peace Health and Deliverance I shall only add the beginning of the Prayer offer'd by the Fourth Priest because it shews how that Church understands the place of St. James so often mentioned (x) Ib. p. 421. Lord who art Good and the lover of Mankind the God of tender Compassion and great Mercy c. who by thy Holy Apostles hast given us Authority to undertake the cure of the Infirmities of thy People do thou also cause this Oyl to be a means of Healing all those that are to be anointed with it to be a remedy against every disease and every malady and a deliverance from evils to those that expect Health from thee c. For by this it appears that the Greeks as the Antients did understand St. James's Unction to be the same with that of the Apostles in St. Mark and consequently refer it to bodily cures And that they ground their Authority to anoint the sick in order to bodily Health upon these places of Scripture so understood And now I shall make bold to say That there is nothing in their whole Office of Holy Oyl that does in the least favour Extreme Vnction but take it all together 't is in effect a flat contradiction to it And therefore to make it look a little Roman like the Latin Translator Father Goar by name has falsified the Rubrick before the Prayer that is to be repeated by every Priest and with very convenient impudence rendered it thus (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is the Greek Rubric but Goar renders it Et post Orationem accipit Sacerdos Sanctum Oleum extremam unctionem suscipientem ungit sequentem orationem dicens p. 417. And after the Prayer of Consecration the Priest taketh the Holy Oyl and anointeth him that receiveth EXTREME VNCTION saying the following Prayer Whereas he ought to have translated it thus and Anointeth him that waiteth there for Vnction and Prayer Not that receiveth Extreme Vnction as the false Translator would have it (z) Orat. Tert. Sac. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated Qui Corporeas hominum infirmitates in utilitatem eorum disponis whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies here afflicta reparans as is translated above Other Prevarications of less moment I have observed whereby he has shewn a good will to bend the Office by Translation even where he could get next to nothing by it But if Testimonies are not to be had and yet men will not be content without them there is no help for it but they must be made And now I may leave any one to judg betwen Simeon and Arcudius who is the True and who the false Greek and likewise between Bellarmin and me whether the Testimony of the Greek Church be for or against Extreme Vnction The truth is tho' the Greek Church hath in some things innovated no less than the Roman yet in others she has kept to ancient Tradition where the Roman has not and of this their Unction is one notable instance which is apparently that Unction which began to take place in the Seventh Age after Christ But the Roman Unction is so far from having Primitive Tradition that 't is not so much as an ancient Innovation as the Unction of the