depends upon his being able f? j?Ag nu?J?Jy against the devil, and that too when he is in the ' of death and this ability to fight agonies ; manfully is made to depend upon his 5eing previously anointed. TMs depends upon the intention of the bishop who consecrated the oil, and of the priest who applies it. And having gone around t�i? circle, we arrive at the Point to which every popish ceremony tends, namely, that the salvation of a Roman Cathohc depends entirely or principally on his priest. All that Christ did and sttfi'ered for sinners goes for nothing with him, unle88 hi8 priest be allowed the honour of making it avail- able. This extreme unction is not a vain ceremony, or a mere absurd- ity, which, when it has excited a sufficient degree of' ridicule, may be left to the peaceable enjoyment of those who are in love with it. It is in itself a real antichrist. It is a substitute for Christ and his holy religion. It occupies the place of Christ in the ministrations of priests, and in the thoughts of dying Romanists. It leaves Christ quite out of the view of a dying sinner, and the priest and anointing are put in his place. Accordingly, when a Roman Catholic is about to die, his great, his only concern is, to have the priest with his holy oil; and to have this applied to all the members of his body, by means of which he may hays committed sin; and to the organs of sight and hearing, by which sin may have found its way into the heart. Here Christ is not thought of at all. The priest and the oil are the saylout in which he confides; ,and while he perishes in his ,qOas, the guilt of this spiritual murder lies at the door of the church that deceived and ruined him. If it were true that the devil really made an assault upon dying per- ?ons; that he reminded them of their sins, and filled their minds with '.darnting apprehensions of the coming judgment, some of them might be led to think of' the gospel which they have heard or read, and might even {lee for refuge to the hope set before them, and so they would be saved from the wrath to come. But the worst Possible state of a dying sinner is to be without alarm; to think that he is at peace with God, when he is an enemy to God. There is delusion enough in the heart of every unregenerate man to think this of himself; but, as ?f it were not so, the Church of Rome steps forward with a pretended sacra- ment, called extreme unction, by which she professes to 8ive peace to the con,science of the dying sinner. It was the sin of the false pro- phats of old, that they healed the hurt of the Lord's people sh�y. The Romish priests are in the same condemnation, under cicumstances of more heinous wickedness. 9. The doctrine of extreme unction is char�le with many absurd- ities and inconsistencies. It is manifestly absurd in its {n.yt?t,?tior? by the Council of Trent, as it is built on mere conjecture. It is certain that the Council of Trent were greatly perplexed, yet fully aware that they were going aside from truth and Scripture, when they instituted this sacrament. In the chap- ter concerning it they betray much caution, ingenuity, and timidity; but in the canons they throw away all restraint, and speak authorita- tively, and without fear or shame of uttering manifest falsehood. In Jhe chapter (sess. 14, c. 1) concerning the institution of extreme unc- tion they say, "This holy anointing of the sick is nqST?TL?TED, AS ?? w?'aE, a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament; iiXSTSD AT indeed by Christ our Lord, in St. Mark, but recommended and preached I Digitized by GO02I(?
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