185 THE INTRODUCTION OF THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. [THOMAS COMBER, D.D.] a I. It is agreeable enough to the changeable state of things in this uncertain world, that so dolorous an office as this should immediately succeed the festivities of holy matrimony, for our delights are short and soon expire; and sometimes, before our nuptial crowns wither, they are wet with a shower of funeral tears. The eastern emperors thought it not incongruous to choose the stones for their sepulchre on the day of their coronation. And it would make our very mirth to be innocent and holy, if, by casting an eye on this following form, we should call to mind that the next and the longer scene must be calamitous. It is certain that sickness doth always, and every where, lie in wait for us; no place nor condition of life can secure us from it. Our bodies consist of contrary qualities, which are continually in war with one another; and whether the heat or the cold, the dryness or the moisture, become predominant, our health falls under the victor's triumphs; so that we began to be sick when we began a Dionys. Carthus. de 4. Noviss. art. xiv, b to live a; 66 as soon as we were born we began to draw to our end ";" and our whole life is but one continued sickness, alleviated with some lucid intervals, but ending in death at last. Alas! who can reckon the innumerable diseases that do infest us? The smallest part of our body may be the subject of smart or malady; a tooth or a nail, a finger or a toe, may breed vexation and disquiet to us. And any of the creatures that minister to our necessities may bring distempers on us. The fire that warms us, the water that cools us, the air we breathe in, the earth we tread upon, the food that allays our hunger, the drink that quenches our thirst, a fly or a gnat, may be the occasion of our sickness or our death. The consideration whereof makes it more to be admired that we are not always sick, than that we are so sometimes; and renders it a greater wonder that any are healthful, than that some are groaning under their infirmities. And doubtless, since men are so universally liable to sickness, that sooner or later, in some kind or other, all shall come into this estate, it must be the duty of every particular person to prepare for it; and it did well become the prudence and piety of the Church to provide a peculiar office for those in this condition. No man must forget that it will be his own lot, and all men are concerned to pity and take care of those who at present lie under this common calamity. The visitation of the sick, therefore, is a duty incumbent upon all; we must "remember them that are thus afflicted, as being ourselves a "Quando natus est homo, ægrotare cœpit; quando mortuus est finit ægritudinem." Aug. de Verb. Dom. Ser. 21. b Wisdom, v. 13. also in the body," Heb. xiii. 3. We are liable to the same miseries, and likely to need the same compassion which we extend to others; we are members of the same body, and must all conspire to succour and restore a weak and wounded limb. Nature taught the Gentiles this, and the Emperor Adrian is recorded to havé visited, not only his friends, but his soldiers, in their sickness, twice or thrice every day, and to have taken care they wanted nothing; from whence a learned man observes, that visiting the sick was in great repute at Rome, since it is so often mentioned in the Emperors' Lives; and the Wise Man affirms, it is the ready way to obtain love, Ecclus. vii. 35. But Christianity obligeth us to it by higher motives; St. James making it an act of religion (James, i. 27.), and David assures us, that he shall be blessed who visits the sick and needy, for God will comfort him in his sickness, and deliver him out of it, Psalm xli. 1, 2, 3. Yea, our Lord Jesus adds, that he will take this charity as done to his own person, and reward it at the last day with eternal glory, Matt. xxv. 34, 35. And who would not do so small a duty, which shall be requited with so great a recompence? The Jewish doctors reckon it among the principal acts of mercy, calling it an imitation of the Divine compassion, and a means to deliver from the flames of hell. The primitive Christians accounted the visiting the sick and weak brethren, "Apparet a Dion. de Adriano, item Spartian. vit. Adr. p. 41. &c. magni Romanos officii genus hoc æstimâsse, cujus adeò frequens in Vitis Imperatorum mentio." Casaub. notis. ibid. b Lib. Musar. fol. 120. p. 1. among the solemn exercises of religion; and the very women among them did punctually observe this piece of charity. But we are here to treat of visiting the sick in a stricter sense; namely, as it denotes the religious duties which the clergy are to perform to those who lie on their sick bed; for which use this office was composed and therefore of this we must give a fuller account. II. The original of this useful and pious duty need not be inquired after any further than that positive command of Holy Scripture, "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," St. James, v, 14, 15. In which words we shall first note the authority prescribing this duty. Secondly, the particulars prescribed. Thirdly, the benefit to be had by observing thereof. First, the authority which prescribes this visitation of the sick is a positive divine command, delivered by an inspired Apostle; so that it is plainly instituted by God, and accordingly it was always practised in the Christian Church, as might be evidenced by many testimonies. The admonition of St. Polycarp to the elders, to visit all those that were weak, shows it was esteemed necessary in his days. And no doubt a "Aut imbecillus aliquis ex fratribus visitatur, aut sacrificium offertur, &c. ... quidvis horum gravitatis, et sanctitatis, negotium est." Tert. de cult. fœm. lib. 2. cap. 11. ... • Καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι . . . ἐπισκεπτόμενοι πάντας ἀσθενεῖς. Epist. Poly carp, ad Philip. |