A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

Canon III. If any shall say, that the rite and usage of extreme unction, which, the holy Roman Church observes, is contrary to the sentence of the blessed apostle James, and, therefore, should be changed, and may be despised by Christians without sin; let him be accursed.

Canon IV. If any shall say, that the presbyters of the Church, whom St. James directs to be called for the anointing of the sick, are not priests ordained by the bishops, but elders in age, in any community; and that, therefore, the priest is not the only proper minister of extreme unction; let him be accursed.

Here the institution of extreme unction by our Lord is implied by Mark vi. 13, where it is said of the apostles, that “they anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” But, by-and-by, (session 22, ch. 1,) we are told that the Christian priesthood was not instituted until our Lord’s last supper. Either, then, extreme unction is no sacrament, or they who are no priests can administer a sacrament; for the apostles were not priests, according to the Church of Rome, at the time spoken of by St. Mark. But, further, a sacrament is a visible form of invisible grace; but the passage in St. Mark speaks only of healing the body; and, therefore, Cajetan, as cited by Catharinus, rejects this text as inapplicable to this sacrament; and Suarez (in part iii. disp. 39, sect. 1, n. 5) says, that “when the apostles are said to anoint the sick and heal them, (Mark vi. 13,) this was not said in reference to the sacrament of unction, because their cures had not of themselves an immediate respect to the soul.” Nor will this pretended sacrament derive more assistance from the passage in St. James, in which they say that the institution by our Lord is proclaimed and declared by that apostle, at least if Cardinal Cajetan is any authority, who is thus cited by Catharinus in his Annotationes, Paris, 1535, p. 191, de Sacramento Unctionis Extremæ. “Sed et quod scribit B. Jacobus, ‘Infirmatur quis in vobis?’ &c., pariter negat reverendissimus ad hoc sacramentum pertinere, ita scribens, nec ex verbis, nec ex effectu, verba hæc loquuntur de sacramentali unctione extremæ unctionis, sed magis de unctione quam instituit Dominus Jesus exercendum in ægrotis. Textus enim non dicit, Infirmatur quis ad mortem? sed absolutè, Infirmatur quis?” &c. But that this rite, which they now call a sacrament, was originally applied chiefly to the healing of the body, is manifest from the prayers which accompanied it. “Cura quæsumus, Redemptor noster, gratia Spiritüs Sancti languores istius infirmi,” and so the directions, “in loco ubi plus dolor imminet, amplius perungatur.” Let the patient have most oil applied in the part where the pain is greatest.—Sacr. Gregor. by Menard, Paris, 1542, p. 252. From all which we come to the conclusion, that the allegations of the Council of Trent on this matter must be pronounced “not proven.” Which, if it were a mere opinion, would be of no great consequence. But when their assertion is supported by anathema, and every communicant in their Church bound to believe it as necessary to salvation, it serves to show the cruelty of this Roman mother both to her own children, and to them whom she reckons strangers. It is in vain that the Roman writers attempt to strengthen their cause by appeals to the Greek mysteries. The Greek mysteries and the Latin sacraments are not synonymous. And as concerns this of unction, which (as its epithet “extreme,” which the Romans have added, implies) is designed for persons in articulo mortis, or in exitu vitæ, as we have it in the third chapter, this derives as little countenance from the Greek Church as it does from St. James. For, in the Greek Church, the service of anointing is used to persons in any illness; and is used by them solely for recovery from sickness, as the following prayer at the application of the oil clearly shows. “O holy Father, the physician of our souls and bodies, who didst send thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal all diseases, and to deliver us from death, heal this thy servant M. from the bodily infirmity under which he now labours, and raise him up by the grace of Christ.”—Perceval, Roman Schism. King’s Greek Church.

Now that this miraculous gift (of healing all manner of diseases) is ceased, there is no reason why the mere ceremony of anointing with oil should continue; which yet is still used in the Church of Rome, and made a sacrament; though it signify nothing; for they do not pretend to heal men by it, nay, they pretend the contrary, because they never use it but in extremity, and where they look upon the person as past recovery; and if they do not think so, they would not use it.—Abp. Tillotson.

EZEKIEL, THE PROPHECY OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. Ezekiel was the son of Buzi, of the house of Aaron. He was carried captive to Babylon with Jechoniah. He began to prophesy in the fifth year of this captivity, which is the æra by which he reckons in all his prophecies. He continued to prophesy during twenty years. He was contemporary with Jeremiah, who prophesied at the same time in Judea. He foretold many events, particularly the destruction of the temple; the fatal catastrophe of those who revolted from Babylon to Egypt; and, at last, the happy return of the Jews into their own land. He distinctly predicts the plagues which were to fall upon the enemies of the Jews, as the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. He foretells the coming of the Messiah, and the flourishing state of his kingdom.—Du Pin, Canon of Scripture, b. i. c. iii. § 20.

The greatest part of this prophecy is easy, plain, and intelligible, referring chiefly to the manners and corruption of that degenerate age. Of all the prophets, Ezekiel abounds the most in enigmatical visions. His style (in the opinion of St. Jerome) is neither eloquent nor mean, but between both. He abounds in fine sentences, rich comparisons, and shows a great deal of learning in profane matters. The beginning and end of this book (by reason of the abstruse mysteries contained in them) were forbidden to be read by the Jews, before thirty years of age.

Ezekiel was called to be a prophet by being carried in a vision to Jerusalem, and there shown all the several sorts of idolatry, which were practised by the Jews in that place. This makes the subject of the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of his prophecies. At the same time God promised to those of the captivity, who kept themselves from these abominations, that he would be their protector, and restore them to the land of Israel. This is his theme in the 15th and following chapters. The 26th, 27th, and 28th chapters contain the threatenings of God’s judgments against Tyre, for insulting on the calamitous estate of Judah and Jerusalem. To these we may add his prophecy concerning the captivity of Zedekiah, contained in the 12th chapter; and that against Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, in the 33rd. These are the principal prophecies of this book.—Prideaux, Connect. p. i. b. i.

It is said, that Ezekiel was put to death by the prince of his people, because he exhorted him to leave idolatry. It is pretended likewise, that his body was deposited in the same cave wherein Shem and Arphaxad were laid, on the bank of the Euphrates. His tomb, they say, is still to be seen: the Jews keep a lamp always burning in it, and boast, that they have there the prophet’s book, written with his own hand, which they read every year upon the great day of Expiation.

The Jewish Sanhedrim, we are told, once took it under their consideration, whether they should not suppress the prophecy of Ezekiel, on account of the obscurity of some parts of it; but that Rabbi Chananias prevented this design, by offering to remove all the difficulties. His proposal, they say, was accepted, and a present was made him of three hundred tun of oil for the use of his lamp, while he was employed in this undertaking. We may easily discover, that this is a mere fable and an hyperbole of the Talmudists.

EZRA. One of the canonical books of Scripture is called the Book of Ezra.