# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1858_S162
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

162    Martin Chemnitz on Extreme Unction.

"The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

It has seemed good to the holy Council of the Church, however, to append to the preceding doctrine of Penance that which follows here concerning the sacrament of extreme unction, which was reckoned by the Fathers to be the completion not only of Penance, but also of the whole Christian life, which is to be a continual penance. He therefore first declares and teaches, as regards its institution, that our most gracious Redeemer, who at every time willed to provide for his servants, through salutary means, against all the arrows of every enemy, just as he prepared the greatest help in the other sacraments, by which Christians, so long as they live, can preserve themselves unharmed from every grievous injury of the spirit, so likewise fortified the end of life, through the sacrament of extreme unction, as it were through a very strong bulwark; for although our adversary seeks and seizes opportunities throughout the whole of life in order to devour our souls in every possible way, yet there is no time at which he strains all the powers of his cunning more fiercely, in order to ruin us utterly, and, could he manage it, to thrust us away from the divine mercy itself, than when he sees that the end of our life is at hand.

First Chapter.
On the Institution of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

This holy anointing of the sick was, however, instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and real sacrament of the new covenant, which was at least indicated in Mark, but was commended and proclaimed to the faithful through James, the apostle and brother of the Lord. He says: "'Is any man among you sick? let him call to himself the elders of the congregation; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall help the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him,'" through which words he — as the Church has learned from apostolic tradition received from hand to hand — teaches the matter, form, proper minister, and effect of this salutary sacrament. As the matter, namely, the Church recognized the oil consecrated by the bishop, for the anointing very fittingly represents the grace of the Holy Spirit, with which the soul of the sick person is invisibly anointed; and finally, the form is held to be those words: "'Through this anointing,'" etc.

Second Chapter.
On the Effect of this Sacrament.

The essence and effect of this sacrament are further explained by these words: "'And the prayer of faith shall help the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.'" For the essence consists precisely in this grace of the Holy Spirit, whose anointing removes the transgressions, so far as there are still any to be atoned for, and