Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

see, though surrounded with the splendour of the noon-day sun. To throw confusion on the subject, he confounds the unction used by the apostles before their priesthood, mentioned by St. Mark', with the sacred rite recorded by St. James. The difference between the two practices is immense: the first indeed may be regarded as a prelude to the other; or as a rite, exhibiting a typical resemblance of what was afterwards to take place. But to confound them together is absolutely to mistake their nature and properties, and the general design for which they were instituted. The use of the oil mentioned by St. Mark, was evidently directed to remove bodily disorders only, and to carry into effect the designs of our Redeemer, when he imparted to his apostles the power of healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease3; and when he said, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. Nothing sacramental is here mentioned, not even insinuated: in fact, the apostles were not invested with the character of the priesthood, when they performed these miraculous operations. They bestowed their favours promiscuously among the crowd, for the obvious purpose of ensuring credit to the Christian doctrine, and of diffusing the religion of their Mas

1 Mark vi. 13.

3 Matt. x. 1.

2 James v. 14.

• Ibid. x. 8.

ter among mankind. It does not appear that the persons thus healed were baptized; and, assuredly, without previous baptism, which is styled by theologians the gate of the sacraments, no sacramental rite can have a valid existence. The object, therefore, of these miraculous cures by the use of oil, cannot possibly be mistaken, but by those who are determined to cover the truth with a thick and dark mist of perplexity.

The sacred rite, recorded by St. James', is altogether of a different nature and description : and that it possesses the dignity of a sacrament of the new law, is a fact, supported by undeniable evidence. If we estimate the nature of a sacrament by the standard admitted by the catechist, we find it to be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordered by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and as a pledge to assure us thereof. According to this authorized definition of a sacrament, three things are clearly requisite for its existence; first, that it be a visible rite or sign; secondly, that it confer an inward or spiritual grace; and, thirdly, that it be ordained by Christ. Now let me ask the theological catechist, which of these three conditions is wanting to make extreme unction a real sacrament? That it is an external sign, admits of no doubt:

1 Loc. cit.

2 Catechism, Book of Common Prayer.

that it confers an inward grace, is equally certain; for the remission of sin is annexed to this sacred rite and such a promised grace, as this holy rite conveys, necessarily and undeniably im.plies the institution of Christ. For how could St. James, an apostle, a disciple perfectly instructed in the school of his Divine Master, and commissioned to teach the truth, pretend to annex-the remission of sin, or a real inward grace, to an external sign, except by the order and institution of his divine preceptor? No man can confer grace, or annex it to any external rite, but by an authority derived from Christ. When, therefore, a holy apostle, lawfully sent, proclaims such an inward grace, combined with an outward sign, we justly, undeniably, and incontrovertibly infer his divine commission so to do. Unless this reasoning be admitted in its fullest extent, the word of an apostle must be deemed an empty sound.

It is still pertinaciously affirmed, I am aware, that this rite can regard bodily cures only; because it is said, that the Lord will raise up the sick man then it is added, that if a spiritual grace be admitted as promised, the assurance is conditional; and that it would be difficult to establish, on such an uncertain ground, the existence of a real sacrament. Such an objection vanishes on the slightest attention, as naturally as the darkness of the night is scattered by the

When St. James de

rays of the morning sun. clares, that the Lord will raise up the sick man, he employs a Greek word, which, in various parts of the sacred writings, is used to designate the operations of the mind only1: and the meaning immediately deducible from the term is, that the Lord will raise him from his state of anxious uneasiness, or torpid insensibility; will dissipate his alarms, and prepare him for his last passage. When the apostle adds, if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him, he by no means makes the effect of the sacrament depend upon a doubtful contingency he rather supposes that to be certain, which usually follows, in the natural order of things; and his expression is perfectly similar to what he says on the subject of praying for true wisdom: If any man want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all abundantly2. Both these propositions, though expressed in a conditional form, unquestionably convey a certain and absolute truth. It is assuredly true, that wę all want wisdom, and are all under the necessity of carrying our petitions to the throne of mercy; and it is equally certain, that something, either sinful, or disposing to sin, some relics of past sin, or some evil propensity, is to be found in the great mass of human beings at the awful and

[ocr errors]

Eyɛpei. Vid. Rom. xiii. 11. Ephes. v. 14. 2 Pet. iii. 1. 2 Ch. i. 5.

decisive hour of death. To remedy this disorder, and to confer a peculiar grace adapted to the wants of the sick man at that dread moment, is the grand and beneficent purpose of this consoling sacrament.

If the catechist wishes to have an authority, in a remote period of Christian antiquity, to prove the existence and use of this sacrament, he will find it recognized and sanctioned in the celebrated epistle of Innocent the First to Decentius, bishop of Gubbio. Innocent governed the church from 402 till 417; and in this document he sanctions the use of extreme unction, as then practised in the church. He was asked, if a bishop as well as a priest might administer the holy oil to the sick; and he determines, that he who blesses the matter of a sacrament, may, if it be convenient to himself, administer it. He then proceeds to say, that this holy oil is not to be administered to the impenitent, because it is a sacrament. For, adds he, how can those who are debarred from the use of the other sacraments, be admitted to the participation of one in particular 1.

St. Gregory the Great, to whose pious and apostolic zeal this country owes its conversion

Nam quibus reliqua sacramenta negantur, quomodo unum genus putetur posse concedi. Epist. Innocent I. ad Decent. apud Carranza, fol. 103.

« AnteriorContinuar »