Page:Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Buckley.djvu/45

 Thursday after the Epiphany, which will be the seventh of the month of January, in the year of the Lord 1546?

They answered: It pleaseth.



The sacred and holy Synod of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same three legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein—recognizing, with the blessed apostle James, that Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who, to those who ask of him wisdom, giveth to all abundantly, and upbraideth them not; and at the same time knowing that The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, hath ordained and decreed, as regards all and each of the faithful of Christ, assembled in the city of Trent, that they should be exhorted, as is [hereby] exhorted, to amend themselves of their evils and sins heretofore committed, and to walk henceforth in the fear of the Lord; not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh; to be instant in prayer; to confess more frequently; to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist; to visit the churches; to fulfil, in fine, as far as each one shall be able, the commandments of the Lord; and, furthermore, daily to pray in private for peace between Christian princes, and for the unity of the Church: but as regards the bishops, and all others soever constituted in the priestly order, who are together celebrating an œcumenical council in this city, that they busy themselyes to apply assiduously to the praises of God, to offer up victims, praises, and prayers; to celebrate the sacrifice of the mass on each Lord's day at least, the day whereon God made the light, and rose again from the dead, and poured forth the Holy Ghost upon his disciples; making, as the same Holy Ghost enjoins by the 