whole life, to be able in any way to devour our souls; yet, there is no time wherein he more vehemently strains all the powers of his cunning to ruin us utterly, and, if he possibly can, to make us fall even from trust in the divine mercy, than when he perceives the end of our life to be impending.
CHAPTER I.
Concerning the Institution of the Sacrament of Extrem Unction.
Now, this sacred unction of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord, as truly and properly a sacrament of the new law, hinted at indeed in Mark,[1] but recommended and promulgated to the faithful by James the apostle, and brother of the Lord. Is any, he saith, sick among you? Let him bring in 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 he in sins, they shall he forgiven him,[2] In which words, as the Church hath learned from apostolic tradition, received from hand to hand, he teaches the matter, the form, the proper minister, and the effect of this salutary sacrament. For the Church hath understood the matter thereof to be oil blessed by a bishop, seeing that the unction most aptly represents the grace of the Holy Ghost, with which the soul of the sick person is invisibly anointed; and furthermore, that those words, " By this unction," &c. are the form.
CHAPTER II.
On the Effect of this Sacrament.
Moreover, the thing [signified], and the effect of this sacrament, are explained in those words; And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he he in sins, they shall he forgiven him. For this thing is the grace of the Holy Ghost; whose anointing cleanses away sins, if there be any still to be expiated, and the remains of sin; relieves and strengthens the soul of the sick, by exciting in him a great confidence in the divine mercy; whereby the sick being relieved, bears more easily
