A Golden Chain

The second circumstance is, when the sick party must send for the elders to instruct him and pray for him. And that is in the very first place of all before any other help be sought for. Where the Divine ends, there the physician must begin: and it is a very preposterous course that the Divine should there begin where the physician makes an end. For till help be had for the soul, and sin which is the root of sickness be cured, physic for the body is nothing. Therefore it is a thing much to be disliked, that in all places almost, the physician is first sent for, and comes in the beginning of the sickness, ⟨p. 796⟩and the Minister comes when a man is half dead, and is then sent for oftentimes, when the sick party lies drawing on and gasping for breath, as though Ministers of the Gospel in these days were able to work miracles.

The second circumstance is, when the sicke partie must send for the elders to i•struct him and pray for him. And that is in the verie first place of all before any other helpe be sought for. Where the Diuine endes, there the phisition must begin: and it is a verie preposterous course that the Diuine should there begin where the physitian makes an ende. For till helpe be had for the soule, and sinne which is the roote of sicknesse be cured, physicke for the bodie is nothing. Therefore it is a thing much to be disliked, that in all places almost, the physitian is first sent for, and comes in the beginning of the sicknes, ⟨p. 796⟩and the Minister comes when a man is halfe dead, and is then sent for oftententimes, when the sicke partie lies drawing on and gasping for breath, as though Ministers of the Gospel in these daies were able to worke miracles.

The second duty of the sick party is to confess his sins, as James saith,¹ Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another. It will be said, that this is to bring in again Popish shrift. Ans. Confession of our sins, and that unto men was never denied of any: the question only is of the manner and order of making confession. And for this cause we must put a great difference between Popish shrift, and the confession of which S. James speaketh. For he requires only a confession of that or those sins which lie upon a mans conscience when he is sick: but the Popish doctrine requireth a particular enumeration of all mans sins. Again, S. James enjoins confession only as a thing necessary, meet, and convenient, but the Papists as a thing necessary to the remission of sins. Thirdly, S. James permits that confession be made to any man, and by one man to an other mutually; whereas Popish shrift is made only to the priest. The second duty then is, that the sick party troubled in mind with the memory and consideration of any of his sins past, or any manner of way tempted by the devil, shall freely of his own accord open his case to such as are both able and willing to help him, that he may receive comfort and die in peace of conscience.