so solemn a covenant of God, they that undertook it in the fear of God, would not stick to seal it by receiving the holy Communion, and accordingly prepare themselves for it; and therefore it would have been more Christian to have desired that those licentious festivities might be suppressed, and the Communion more generally used by those that married, of which the happiness would be greater than could easily be expressed." "53 For which they quote that passage in Tertullian, Unde sufficiam ad enarrandam felicitatem ejus Matrimonii, quod Ecclesia conciliat, et conformat Oblatio? 54 This was an answer which the Presbyterians knew not how to get over; and therefore, as usual, they only return an unmannerly reply. However, to oblige them, the rubric is altered, and persons are not now expressly required to communicate at their marriage, but only reminded that it is convenient so to do. The advantage of But no serious person surely will think the communicating Communion less proper or requisite, because the on the day of Church has left it more to their discretion. As marriage. to the objection of these Puritans, that "marriage-festivals are too often accompanied with such divertisements as are unsuitable to the Sacrament; a sober man would be apt to think, that this should rather be a reason why the Sacrament should be joined to this office, viz. that the reverence of this holy institution might banish those vain and wicked revels from Christian marriages. And certainly since one must be spared, it is much better to part with a licentious custom, than a religious duty. The passage of Tertullian, cited above, shews what opinion the primitive Church had of a marriage so decently solemnized; and no office, I believe, but the Geneva Order,55 ever forbad, nor no Christians, I believe, but the English Puritans, ever found fault with, the administering of the Eucharist upon the wedding-day and neither of these, I dare say, will influence the good dispositions of considerate men. The sober and serious will still believe, that when this holy Sacrament attends the Nuptials, the office will be esteemed more sacred and venerable, the persons will act more considerately and gravely, and the marriage-vow receive new strength from its being confirmed by so solemn an engagement. 53 See the Papers that passed between the Commissioners, &c. p. 122. ad Uxor. 1. 2, c. 8, p. 171, D. 55 Ordin. Eccles. Genev. 134. : 54 Tertull. CHAPTER XI. OF THE ORDER FOR THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. THE INTRODUCTION. Why this office is that of matri placed next to mony. In a world so full of casualties as this we live in, in which sickness and even death sometimes interrupts the marriage solemnities, it should be no matter of surprise that this melancholy office is placed immediately after that of matrimony. The eastern emperors thought it not unsuitable to choose the stone for their sepulchre on the day of their coronation. And it would not a little tend to temper and moderate the exuberant joys which sometimes attend the festivities of marriage, if by casting an eye on the following form, we should call to mind, that the next and longer scene may be calamitous. bent upon all. Especially upon the Clergy; §. 2. It is certain that no age nor sex, no state visiting the sick nor condition, can secure us from sickness; and a duty incumtherefore, as no man should forget that it will, one day or other, come to be his own lot; so should all men take care to comfort those who at present lie under this calamity. So that this is a duty which all Christians are obliged to, and to which great promises are annexed, and which was therefore always esteemed, by the ancient Fathers of the Church, to be one of the most solemn exercises of religion.3 §. 3. The Clergy more especially are expressly required to perform this duty by a divine command. For though private friends may pray for us, and with us, yet we can by no means place such confidence in their prayers, as we may in those that are sent to heaven in our behalf, by such as are peculiarly commissioned to offer them. For this reason it is enjoined by Saint James, that if any be sick, they call for the elders of the Church. From whence we may observe that the care of sending for the Minister is left to the sick. For the Priest Whom the sick are to send for, himself, it is very probable, may never have heard of his sickness; or, if he has, may not be so good a judge when his visit will be seasonable, or when the party is best able to join with him. 2 Matt. xxv. 44, 45. Heb. xiii. 3. 4 James 1 Dionys. Carthus. de 4. Noviss. Art. 14. James i. 27. Ecclus. vii. 35. 3 Tertull. de Cult. Fœm. 1. 2, c. 11, p. 159, C. ▼. 14, 15. : §. 4. For this reason it is ordered by the ruAt the beginning bric, that when any person is sick, notice shall of their sickness; be given thereof to the Minister of the parish: i. e. not when the person is just expiring, (as is too often the case,) but when the distemper or disease first discovers its approach. To put it off to the last scene of life, is to defer the office till it can do no good. For when the distemper is grown past recovery, to pray for his restoration is only to mock the Almighty and what spiritual advantage can be proposed or expected from the Minister's assistance, to one who is unable to do any thing for himself? For this reason it is the advice of the wise man, that in the time of our sickness we take care of our souls in the first place, and then afterwards give place to the physician.5 And among the ancient constitutions of this Church, a strict charge is laid upon the bodily physicians, that, when they are at any time called to the sick, they do before all things persuade them to send for the physician of souls, that, when care is taken for the sick man's spirit, they may more successfully proceed to the remedies of external medicines. 6 §. 5. It is the sick person's duty therefore to Who are to go give the Minister notice, and the Minister's to go without delay. when notice is given: for by the sixty-seventh canon of the Church, it is ordered, that when any person is dangerously sick in any parish, the Minister or Curate (having knowledge thereof) shall resort unto him or her (if the disease be not known, or probably suspected to be infectious) to instruct and comfort them in their distress, according to the order of the Communion Book, if he be no Preacher; or if he be a Preacher, then as he shall think most needful and convenient. Which last words evidently allow a nister be confin- preaching Minister (that is, a Minister who is ed to the present licensed to preach) the liberty of using either this order, or any other, as he shall see convenient. And it is certain that the order prescribed by the Common Prayer Book is very deficient in several cases. For which reason bishop Andrews and others have drawn up offices to supply the defect; though it may be questioned, whether, by the Act for the Uniformity of public prayers, we be not restrained from private forms. At least it were to be wished Whether the Mi order. 5 Ecclus. xxxvii. 9, 10, 11, 12. apud Spelm. Concil. tom. ii. 6 Constit. Richard. Episc. Sarum. A. D. 1217. that some more copious office was provided by authority, which might take in the various conditions of the sick, for which they that confine themselves to the present order are often at a loss. SECT. I.-Of the Salutation. : THE minister of the parish coming into the sick The Salutation. man's house, is to say, Peace be to this house, and to all that dwell in it: which is the same salutation that our Saviour commanded his Apostles to use to every house into which they should enter." And (which is particular to our purpose) one main part of the Apostles' errand was to heal the sick. We know indeed the Apostles worked miraculous cures however, when the gift was ceased, the salutation remained; which therefore we use to this very day in visiting the sick, since we still go on the same charitable account, though not endued with the same power. And the sense of the words is very suitable for peace signifies all outward blessings, though, when used in salutations, it generally imports health. For which reason, in Joseph's inquiry' after the health of his father, though the Hebrew text expresses it, Is there peace to your father? our translation renders it, Is your father well? to which the Septuagint reading also exactly corresponds, viz. Is your father in health? When therefore a family is visited with sickness or distress, what better salutation can we use than this, viz. that they may all have peace, i. e. health and prosperity? And as the apostolical salutation was not a mere compliment, but a real benediction to those that were worthy;10 so shall this of ours prevail for what we ask to that house which is prepared to receive it. For which reason the family should receive it with thankfulness and faith, and welcome with joy the ambassador of heaven, who in the time of their calamity comes with health and salvation to their dwelling. SECT. II.-Of the Supplications and Prayers. Psalm cxliii. I. WHEN the Minister is come into the sick man's presence, he is to begin the Supplications. used formerly. By the first book of king Edward, these were in troduced with the hundred and forty-third Psalm; which, upon whatever occasion it was composed, is very proper and 7 Luke x. 5. 8 Ver. 9. 9 Genesis xliii. 27. 10 Luke x. 6. applicable to any state of affliction. But at the next review this Psalm was left out, and the office has ever since_begun with the sentence out of the Litany. For the of the Litany. Litany being designed for the averting of evil, and the proper office for a state of affliction, would have been very proper to be used here entirely, but that it is supposed the sick man cannot attend so long. For which reason there is only one sentence taken out of the whole, to deprecate both our own and the iniquities of our forefathers, which so long as God remembers, his holiness and justice will oblige him to punish us more and more. And because all of us equally deserve to be afflicted, as well as the person for whom we are going to pray, therefore all that are present join to say both for themselves and him, Spare us, good Lord. upon us, &c. II. And as all that came to JESUS for help Lord have mercy used to cry, Lord have mercy upon us ; 11 so do we here, on the like occasion, supplicate and beseech the whole Trinity for mercy, in that ancient form of which we have already spoken.12 The Lord's III. When we have thus prayed against evil, we proceed to petition for those good things which the sick man's condition makes him stand in need of. And that our prayers may be the more prevailing, they are introduced as usual with the Prayer of our Lord, which is more particularly proper here, as being very suitable to a state of trouble. and Responses. IV. This is followed by some short Responses, The Versicles in which all that are present are to join with the Priest in behalf of the sick, who will doubtless be refreshed by the charity and devotion of so many supplicants, with united requests, petitioning the throne of grace for him.* V. After this the Minister proceeds to collect The first Collect. the requests of the people into a short prayer; wherein he begs, that whilst the sickness remains, it may be made easy to bear, by the comforts of divine grace continually bestowed upon the person that suffers. The second Collect. VI. And then, in another prayer, he proceeds further to beg that the correction may be sancti The places of the Psalms, whence they are taken, have already been shewed upon the office of Matrimony: 13 here is only one added for the preservation of the sick from the malice of the devil, which is taken from Psalm lxxxix. 23, according to the old Latin translation. 11 Matt. ix. 27. xv. 22. xvii. 15. xx. 30, 31. 12 Page 152, 153. 13 Page 423. |