by A. D. Crake
the action of thelast chapter, when the partition of the kingdom had already occurred.
xxxiii The last Anointing.
The priest shall also have oil hallowed, separately, for children, andfor sick men; and solemnly anoint the sick in their beds. Some sick menare full of vain fears, so as not to consent to the being anointed. Nowwe will tell you how God's Apostle Jacob hath instructed us in thispoint; he thus speaks to the faithful: "If any of you be afflicted, lethim pray for himself with an even mind, and praise his Lord. If any besick among you, let him fetch the mass priests of the congregation, andlet them sing over him, and pray for him, and anoint him with oil in theName of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall heal the sick; and theLord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins they shall be forgivenhim. Confess your sins among yourselves, pray for yourselves amongyourselves, that ye be healed." Thus spake Jacob the Apostle concerningthe unction of the sick. But the sick man, before his anointing, shallwith inward heart confess his sins to the priest, if he hath any forwhich he hath not made satisfaction, according to what the Apostlebefore taught: and he must not be anointed, unless he request it, andmake his confession. If he were before sinful and careless, let him thenconfess, and repent, and do alms before his death, that he may not beadjudged to hell, but obtain the Divine mercy.
Such is Johnson's version of the 32d canon of Elfric, in which he haspreserved closely Elfric's translation, or rather paraphrase, of thepassage in St. James. The name James was not then in use, the LatinJacobus was rendered Jacob.--Johnson's English Canons, A.D. 957, 32.
