for sick men; and solemnly anoint the sick in their beds. Some sick men
are full of vain fears, so as not to consent to the being anointed. Now
we will tell you how God's Apostle Jacob hath instructed us in this
point; he thus speaks to the faithful: "If any of you be afflicted, let
him pray for himself with an even mind, and praise his Lord. If any be
sick among you, let him fetch the mass priests of the congregation, and
let them sing over him, and pray for him, and anoint him with oil in the
Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall heal the sick; and the
Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven
him. Confess your sins among yourselves, pray for yourselves among
yourselves, that ye be healed." Thus spake Jacob the Apostle concerning
the unction of the sick. But the sick man, before his anointing, shall
with inward heart confess his sins to the priest, if he hath any for
which he hath not made satisfaction, according to what the Apostle
before taught: and he must not be anointed, unless he request it, and
make his confession. If he were before sinful and careless, let him then
confess, and repent, and do alms before his death, that he may not be
adjudged to hell, but obtain the Divine mercy.

Such is Johnson's version of the 32d canon of Elfric, in which he has
preserved closely Elfric's translation, or rather paraphrase, of the
passage in St. James. The name James was not then in use, the Latin
Jacobus was rendered Jacob.--Johnson's English Canons, A.D. 957, 32.