Page images
PDF
EPUB

the fecond Liturgy, to pleafe Calvin and Bucer, and the Presbyterian Reformers abroad: Yet I have fhewed before, She at the fame time declared, that this, as well as the other Parts of the first Liturgy, was agreeable to the Word of GOD. I know indeed, it is faid by fome, that this Oil was used in the Days of St. James, to work miraculous Cures: And therefore, it is fuperftitious to use it now, when no fuch miraculous Cures are to be expected. But all this is faid without Proof, and it does not appear from the Holy Scriptures, that Oil was ever used after our Saviour's Refurrection, by any of the Apostles or others to work a miraculous Cure. Neither does the Apoftle here promife any miraculous Cure, but only fays, the Prayer of Faith fhall fave the Sick, and the LORD fhall raise him up. Here is nothing fo much as intimated, that a miraculous Operation is to be expected, any Thing which may not as reasonably be hoped for, now Miracles are ceased, as then when Miracles were frequent. The Prayer of Faith fhall fave the Sick; that is, when the Priefts have prayed over the fick Perfon, and anointed him with Oil according as is prefcribed, he may then expect the Bleffing of a Restoration to his Health, if GOD see it most expedient for him. But it is not

faid, the LORD fhall cure him miraculously, but the LORD shall raise him up; which if it be done by GOD's Bleffing on the Phyfician's Skill and Prefcriptions, or by any Natural Means, (neither of which can operate without GOD's Bleffing) the Promife is fulfilled. But then it is objected, that here is no Promise made to the Anointing with Oil, but only to the Prayer of Faith; if, therefore, Prayer alone be the Means to procure Health to the Sick, the Anointing is infignificant. But this Objection makes Anointing the Sick not only to be useless at this Time, but also to have been always fo, even at the very Time when St. James required it, that is, in the Age when Miracles were wrought: For that Apostle plainly fpeaks of his own Times, as well as thefe, when he fays, the Prayer of Faith fhall fave the Sick. This Argument therefore is of no Force, fince it proves too much, and makes the Unction of the Sick as infignificant, when it was confeffedly required, as now when they pretend that it is not required. In the next place we ought to confider, that the Prayer of Faith is fuch a Prayer, as is offered according to the Will and Direction of the Holy Ghoft, for which we have fome Word of Promife to rely upon, that we fhall be heard and answered: And there

[blocks in formation]

fore, the Holy Ghost having required by the Pen of the Apostle, that Unction should accompany this Prayer, it may be questioned, whether, in this Cafe, that is to be called the Prayer of Faith, which is not fo accompanyed. At least, he that uses the Unction may be more fecure, that he does offer up the Prayer of Faith, when he omits nothing that the Holy Ghoft has enjoined on this Occafion. However, this is very far from the Popish Unition, the Design of which is only to fend a Man out of the World, whereas this is intended to keep him in the World a little longer, if it be the Will of GOD.

6. THE Middle State of Separate Souls from their Death to the Refurrection, and the Lawfulness of Praying for their Perfect Confummation in Bliss, is both agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, and the Do&rine of the Church of England, and is alfo directly oppofite to Popery. That there is fuch a Middle State, has been proved by fo many Texts of Scripture, that if I fhould produce all of them, I might write a confiderable Volume. I fhall therefore content myself with One or Two. * Our xxiii. 43. Bleffed Saviour fays to the Penitent Thief, To day shalt thou be with me in PARA DISE. This was plainly spoken of the State into which both their Souls were to

Luk.

ga,

go, when they were feparated from the Body; but it is certain, that our Blessed Saviour's Soul did not ascend into Heaven, till it went thither together with his Body, Forty Days after his Refurrection. For, when Mary Magdalen faw Him at his first Rifing from the Dead, He faith unto* fob.xx. her, touch me not, for I am not yet afcended 17. to my Father; which he could not have faid, if His Soul had been in Heaven, the Throne of GOD, during the time it was separated from the Body. Our Bleffed Saviour's Soul, during that time was in Hell, or Hades, as we confefs every Day in our Creed; and as St. Peter taught † in + 4. ii. his firft Sermon after the Descent of the 17. Holy Ghoft, when he applied to Christ that Portion of the Pfalms, Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou fuffer thine Holy One to fee Corruption. He fhewed that thefe Words could not be understood of David, because he still continued Dead and Buried; confequently, that his Soul was ftill in Hell, or Hades, the State of Separate Souls. I fhall not now ftand to prove, that Hell, or Hades, does not here fignify the State of the Damned, but only the State of Separate Souls in general; but fhall leave thofe who defire Satisfaction in this Point, to confult Bishop Pearson and Sir Peter King, (nei

ther

* Luk.xvi.

ther of which, I fuppofe, will be accused of Popery) and other Expofitors on the Creed, who in treating on the Article of Chrifts Defcent into Hell, fhew from demonftrable Arguments and Authorities, that Hell, or Hades, means in our Creed, not the State of the Damned, but only the State of Separate Souls: In which State there are, nevertheless, different Manfions for the Juft, and for the Unjuft, as we learn from

our Bletfed Saviour's Parable concern19, &c. ing the Rich Man and Lazarus, whereof the one was carried into Abraham's Bofom, a Place of Reft and Enjoyment, and the other was in a Place of Torment. And this Place of Reft and Enjoyment, was plainly the Place into which the Soul of the Penitent Thief accompanied that of our Bleffed Saviour, but which His Soul quitted again the third Day to be re-united to the Body, that it might, together with that, afcend into Heaven. For till the Refurrection, there is no Afcending into Heaven St. Peter affuring us, that David, the Man after GOD's own Heart, is not afcended into the Heavens, becaufe his Body is yet dead and buried; yet, furely, David is in the fame happy State with Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, Lazarus, the Penitent Thief, and of all the Saints departed this Life in the Faith and Fear of GOD, through Chrift.

However,

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »