SERMON X.

VISITATION OF THE SICK.

JAMES V. 14, 15.

66 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."

LET no one be so uncharitable, as to charge us, when engaged in a course of Lectures of this nature, with preaching the Prayer Book, and not the Bible. What is the Common Prayer-but the doctrine, experience, and precepts of Holy Scripture, applied to the heart devotionally? With the help of God, we shall, I trust, be enabled to give heed to that weighty charge of St. Paul

-"Necessity is laid upon me: yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel '.'

The Church, you will have observed, does not provide offices only for those more solemn occasions in the Christian life, when we partake of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Supper of the Lord. The Church takes thought for the young, and provides a Catechism 2. The Church blesses her children joined in holy marriage. The Church considers her members, cut off by sickness from the great congregation; and has provided a form for ministering to the sick; such as greatly tends to edify all, who are thus chastened of God. The dangers and casualties of life are so numerous; sickness comes upon us, in so many forms, that we cannot regard the subject in too serious a point of view. The sick chamber, instead of being

2 Lectures on the Catechism were delivered before the congregation in Lent, 1836, a portion of which is introduced into the present course.

a scene of repining, at interruption of business, or disturbance of pleasure, should be devoutly endured, nay, by the heavenly mind rejoiced in, as a Remembrancer of our fallen condition; and as affording sanctified preparation, by exercises of self-enquiry and faith, and penitence, for removal to a world of holiness.

The Visitation Service commences with that Gospel sound-" Peace." The messenger of peace, on his entrance into the abode of sorrow, is directed to bless, in the name of his Lord, all that are therein; and to pray the God of mercy, that he would remember the precious blood of Jesus, which has been shed, and turn away His wrath from our iniquities. Then in the words of our Lord, summing up all that can be desired for soul and body, he prays, not for those present only, but for the whole of Christ's Church. One of the great beauties of our occasional services is, that they seem to draw the soul of the individual into personal communion with God. In our weakness, we are often tempted to imagine ourselves lost in

of the Tares?-and are we not bound in cha rity to hope, that even at the eleventh hour, the germ of communicated grace given in Baptism, (though it may not yet have sprung into active operation,) by the awakening Spirit, shall become a principle of life? It may lie, like the seed, which after the lapse of an hundred years, is capable, when at length the obstruction is removed, of feeling from the light and genial warmth of heaven, a quickening influence. Hence, the cheering expressions in this service; and how invitingly must they fall on his ear, who thinks that he hath but a short time to live! How sweet the words referring to himself, in direct prayer to God"thy servant, visited with sickness-this sick member of the Church." Can we dare, when they, whom we visit, profess their faith in the Father, the Saviour, and the Comforter; when they, often with tears of agony, bewail their past offences; can we dare to say-You have no hope; you are not converted? Nay, rather, at such an hour, let us, indeed, while trying the spirits, whe

ther they be of God, put on, as the elect of God, bowels of compassion. When we come in contact with a mind, which, however feebly, is striving, in Christ, to prepare for the awful journey, let us be ready to invite, to direct, to hold out every just hope; and, while we would not deceive, tremble lest we discourage.

Com

Having endeavoured to guard and justify these expressions of soothing influence used by the Church, I proceed to notice the wise and affectionate address, which the minister now makes to the sick person. mencing with words of endearing invitation, he reminds him, that according to the dealing of the Almighty in His providence, this sickness is from God. He suggests, whether it be sent to correct some sin; or to try the patience of the sufferer, so as to manifest God's grace, and increase his own happiness hereby. But from whatever cause it may arise, he assures him, that, if he does now truly humble himself for sin, and fix his trust in Jesus, as a Saviour,