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in Paris in the form of a prayer. The schoolmen, however, defended it on the ground that it was only a declaration of God's pardon, and in this sense it was first adopted, and continued in the Church, though with a more extensive signification.

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On all these grounds we object to the sacra ment of penance, and if a still further cause for our opposition were required, it might be derived from the prayer which follows the absolution: "The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the Blessed Virgin, and all the saints, "and all the good thou hast done, and the evil "that thou hast suffered, be to thee for the re"mission of sins, the increase of grace, and the "reward of eternal life." Such a prayer is directly contrary to the spirit of Christianity.

3°. 1. Orders has not the parts necessary to constitute a true sacrament.

The doctrine of our Church on this point is, that Christ appointed a succession of pastors in different ranks, to be continued in his Church, and that as the Apostles founded Churches, they instituted distinct orders of bishops, priests, and deacons. And as we find prayer and imposition of hands to have been the only rites practised by the Apostles and in the succeeding ages, we therefore think that bishops, priests and deacons

a See Gul. Par. Oper. tom. 1. de Sac. Pœn. c. 3.

b See Rituale Rom. de Sacr. Pœnit.

ought to be in this manner blest and dedicated to the ministry. Men thus separated, we believe, to have authority to perform the sacred functions among Christians; but no persons without such a consecration can lawfully administer the rites of religion. In this account, it is evident, we see nothing like a sacrament. There is neither form, nor institution, since the ceremony consists only of prayer and imposition of hands.

2. We shall consider the parts assigned to this sacrament in the Roman Church.

In the ordaining of priests, there are vessels delivered to them with these words: "Take "thou authority to offer up sacrifices to God, "and to celebrate masses both for the living " and the dead; in the name of the Father, the "Son, and the Holy Ghost." The vessels are supposed to be the matter, and the words accompanying their delivery, the form.a In this ceremony the prayer which formerly was made at the same time with the imposition of hands, is now separated from it, and the bishop and priests together lay on their hands without pronouncing any words in the form of a prayer. Likewise in the conclusion of the office, the bishop alone lays on his hands, saying, "Receive the Holy Ghost: "whose sins ye remit, they are remitted, and "whose sins ye retain, they are retained." The

a See Cone. Flor. dec. Unionis.

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schoolmen have explained the reason of these forms thus they say the Eucharist is composed of two parts, the consecration of the bread and of the wine; both of which are so necessary, that without the one, the other becomes void. In like manner, a priest has two powers, of consecrating and absolving; to the one he is ordained by the delivery of the vessels, and to the other by the bishop's laying on his hands, with the words, "receive the Holy Ghost." And the joint laying on of hands, by the bishop and priests, they consider to be a declaration, as if by suffrage, that such a person ought to be admitted to orders.

In every part of this ceremony the practice of the Roman Church is opposed to that of the primitive ages. All the ancient rituals, and all the writers who treat of them for the first seven centuries speak of nothing as essential to orders but prayer and imposition of hands. In general these are performed at the same time, but in the Greek Church, though there are prayers in the office of ordination, yet the words which accompany the imposition of hands are only

a The council of Trent anathematizes those "who deny this two-fold power to the priesthood."-See Conc. Trid. sess. 23. de Sacr. Ordin. c. 1.

b Bellarmine confesses that "nothing but imposition of hands "can be proved by Scripture to be the external symbol in this sa"crament."--See Bellar. de Sacr. Ordin. 1. 1. c. 9.

declaratory" the grace of God, that perfects "the feeble and heals the weak, promotes this

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man to be deacon, a priest or a bishop: Let

us, therefore, pray for him." This difference however, is very slight. In the tenth or eleventh century, the form of delivering the vessels was introduced, and the words which accompanied them were supposed to confer the orders. Now if this be a sacrament, and if it consist in the matter and form assigned by them, then it follows from these observations, that the Church, for ten centuries, had no true orders, nor any such sacrament among them. This conclusion cannot be evaded by saying, that Christ instituted no matter or form, but left them to be defined by the Church, for a sacrament consists in being an institution of God, and therefore to assert that no such institution exists, is to admit that it is not a sacrament.

There is also another point connected with this subject, on which we differ from the Church of Rome. We deny all orders below that of

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See Haberti Pontif. Græcum, et Morin. de Ordin. Sac.

b It should be observed, that the council of Trent did not declare the particular matter or form of this sacrament, but merely asserted generally, that it is performed by words and signs.-See Conc. Trid. sess. 23. c. 3. Hence Arcudius infers that 66 these must have been left to the determination of the Church."-See Arcud. de Sacr. 1. 6. c. 4. Now the Roman Catechism defines divine institution as necessary to a sacrament.-See Cat. Trid. p. 2. n. 10. Hence Arcudius' admission implies, that orders cannot deserve that title.

deacon, for instance, the subdiaconate, to be sacred. We admit, that these orders might be retained by the Church, for good reasons, as means of introducing a stricter discipline in the education of ministers, but it is beyond the power of the Church to make those sacraments which have no warrant from Scripture. It is also remarkable, that, in the definition given by Pope Eugenius of the sacraments, which is admitted as authentic by the Roman Church, he reckons priests, deacons, and subdeacons, as belonging to the sacrament of orders, yet he does not name bishops, though the divine institution of them is not questioned. In the same way, at Trent, among the degrees of orders, that of a priest is reckoned the highest. And among the schoolmen, episcopacy is generally explained as a higher degree of priesthood, but not as a distinct order. The reason of this opinion seems to be, that as the greatest miracle, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine, can be performed by a priest, no order could be superior to it.

4o. 1. Marriage has not the parts necessary to constitute a true sacrament.

We do not deny marriage to be an ordinance of God, but we think, that as it was first made in a state of innocence, so it is still founded on the law of nature, and though the Gospel gives rules concerning the duties of that state of life, yet we cannot call it a sacrament, since it

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