EXTREME UNCTION

One of the seven sacraments of the Romish church, founded upon the pa age in the Epistle of St. James in which he says, " If any be sick among you, let him call upon the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." (v. 14.) The performance of this ceremony is supposed to purify the soul of the dying person from any sins that he may have committed, and which have not been previously expiated by participation in the other means of grace. The Protestants usually answer the text above cited by continuing the quotation to the next verse, where it is said, " And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;" from which they argue that reference is made to a miraculous gift which was exercised in the Apostles' time, and has no application to our days. With respect to the usage of antiquity, to which the Romanists lay claim, it is answered that the pa ages to which they refer allude to the ceremony not as a sacrament for the good of the soul, but only as a rite that carried with if health to the body. When the Apostle goes on to say, that the Lord will forgive the sins of the sick man, this evidently supposes him to have a lively feith; and that such faith is the condition of the miraculous cure. [s. 446]