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النشر الإلكتروني

LECTURE XVIII.

JAMES V. 13-18.

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 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. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

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HAVING warned his brethren against a shocking abuse of the Divine name, its desecration by rash and inconsiderate swearing, the apostle, hastening to the close of his epistle, proceeds, in a very impressive manner, to enforce the right use of it; namely, to call upon it in all times of trouble, and in general, to employ it in the exercises of prayer and praise. He directs his exhortations on the subject of prayer, first

to the whole church, to all its members without distinction, “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms." As to the first part of this advice, it might seem almost superfluous to urge christians to pray in times of affliction. According to the proverbial expression, 'Necessity teaches to pray;' we all know from our own experience, that whenever we are suffering, whether under the oppression of some outward evil, the want or deprivation of some good, or mental anxiety, or under the pressure of sin, the greatest of evils, a weight too great for human power to sustain; in all these cases we bow our knees almost involuntarily, our wrestling hands are raised, and with sighs and lamentations, supplications and vows, the burdened heart pours itself forth before the Eternal. But when our sufferings are lessened, when our troubles are past, and anxious sorrow is exchanged for a state of joyful prosperity, then, my friends, we easily forget God again; thoughts and resolutions, which seemed to fill our soul, and promised to shed a sanctifying influence over our whole life, in a few hours retire so completely into the back ground, that we almost lose the recollection of them; or, to speak plainly, if we do recollect them, it is with a kind of self-reproach and contempt, for having indulged in such unmanly weakness, and superstitious despondency. So far from believing in the efficacy of prayer, as the appointed means of obtaining help from God, we are too apt to see in our improved circumstances, only the

gratifying result of our own exertions, or a happy turn of chance. In the return of better days, we are prone to think ourselves secure without God's aid; and if we place reliance on any thing besides the favour of fortune, and our own skill, it is at best on the advice or co-operation of our fellow-mortals; and with these feelings of arrogant independence and unbelief, no sincere thanksgiving can be offered to the Most High. Wherefore the apostle not only says, "Is any afflicted? let him pray;" but "Is any merry? let him sing psalms;" let him have songs of praise and thanksgiving in his heart, and on his lips; let him offer praise to God, and pay his vows to the Most High; for he that offereth praise, and glorifieth God, places himself in the way of receiving fresh donations of the Divine bounty, and renewed manifestations of the salvation of God. Bless, therefore, the Lord, O my soul, if thy diseases are healed, thy sins forgiven, thy life redeemed from destruction; if thy mouth which has hitherto been uttering lamentations, is again made joyful, bless the Lord who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies, and forget not all his benefits, Psa. ciii.

If we only consider, my friends, that our whole earthly existence is divided between sorrow and joy, that prosperity and adversity continually alternate with one another, and that the apostle lays down a rule for our conduct in each of these conditions, to pray in the evil hour, to sing psalms in the good; it is evident that he urges us to exercise devotion without

intermission; we must either pray or praise; there must be no day nor hour of our lives in which we do not look up to God, and hold intercourse and communion with him. Let us again consider, that at some seasons, the alternations of prosperity and adversity are so very sudden, that at the same hour we may be suffering in one respect, and be rejoicing in another; since in the hour of joy we are often required to weep with those that weep, and in the hour of sorrow to rejoice with those that rejoice; and also, on the other hand, that between prayer and the singing of psalms the difference is not so very great, for when we are of good cheer and thankful for benefits received, still something is always remaining to be prayed for; and when we are most sorrowful, and crying to God from the depths, still the song of praise in our hearts should not entirely cease. Perhaps the full meaning of our text is this: that one deeply rooted feeling, and one fixed temper of mind. must accompany us through all the vicissitudes of life ; a devout tone of praise must pervade our whole existence; the peace of God to which we are called, must always rule in our hearts; the word of Christ must always dwell richly in us; and since this peace and this word are ours both in joy and sorrow, our mouth must overflow with a mingled stream of spiritual songs, and of inwrought sighs and suppli

cations.

The apostle, after giving these general directions, turns to a particular class of sufferers, the sick. “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." In this verse there are some things mentioned, peculiar to the times in which the epistle was written. The sick person is

directed to call one or more of the elders of the church to him, both to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord; that is, believing in the name of Jesus, on account of his word and promise, full of obedience and of trust in him. But what is intended by anointing with oil? Oil, in eastern countries, was a natural remedy, frequently applied in many disorders. But when the apostle directed that the sick should be anointed with oil, he cannot be supposed to mean that thus a cure would be effected in a natural way; for to practise the healing art (considered simply as a human acquirement) was no part of the apostolic or ministerial office. Yet the evangelist Mark informs us, that when the Redeemer sent out his disciples at first, and gave them miraculous power over unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of diseases, "they anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them." It appears, then, that though this anointing had no outward efficacy, it was not an unmeaning ceremony, but when used in connexion with prayer, or the laying on of hands, was full of significance. It denoted, that as oil powerfully and gently revives the body, so the souls of men that need quickening, must be anointed in the name of the Lord, with the Holy Spirit and with power;

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