Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/188

 180 uotufaTs rw eIMlasJ,. [Boor lJ. from heaven, which nourbhes our tomb to etermd lib. 4. Penance, by which the soul that he caught the contagion of sin is restored to spiritual life. 5. Extreme unction, which obliterates the traces of sin, and invigorates the powers of the soul. 6. Holy orders, which gives pover to perpetuate in the church the public administration of' the sacraments, and the exercise of' all the sacred (unctions of the mil* try'. 7. Matrimony, n sacrament instituted for the legitimate and holy union of man and woman, for the conoervon of the human race and the education of children. '*�h are tile reasonings which Rome puts in the place of Scripture authority. 2..Th( maintain that all the sacrament8 are not of' equal dit7, necessity, or siglfication. Three of the sacraments, namely, b&ptism, the euch&rist, and orders, &re considered as superior to the others. Baptism is absolutely necenary, as it is the only means of' regenera* tion, or is regeneration itself. TIM necessity of' penance is relative; tor it is necessaT 7 only for these who sin mortally alter baptism. Or* ders too, thouKh not necenary to each of' the f'sith(u], are of absolute neral necessity to the church. But the eucimriat, for holiness, end number and greatness of. it8 m78teries, is eminently 8nperior to all the rest. "TIM other sacraments posse88 the power of 8aJic only when any one uses them; but in the eucharist there oxiota the author of' sanctity before theLT use.'*t "In tlfis sacrament Ch14Jt lim- self. is contained substantially; in the others only a certain instrumental virtue derived from Christ hir,melf."$ Such is the comlmrative estima- tion in which the hold the 8acraments. The Douay doctors (Annotations on Exod. xvi) set forth the emio hence of. the euchaTist by cornpaying it in twelve several points with manna, in all of' which miracles are introduced. R Nevertheless, the ctistin]uished Origen saw none of these cilaracteristic8 in manna; hi8 interpretation is surely to be prefeFred to the conceits ot  the Dotlay theologians, though his is fanciful onont[h.[ 3. Now there are three thn8 which seem ohvously to belon K to every sacTMnent. 1. That their symbols 8igni'y or represent, in n lively manner, the 8pi.l-[p_,__i tilings wMch ey represent. 2. They must be instituted by Christ. 3. The sacraments o(the gospel should succee(l those of' the law. From hence we can infer that there &re only two sacraments that belong to Christianity, namely, baptism and the Lord's supper. �. 1. These two only &re siKus of heavenly thngs, and seab &nd .p1. edges thereof'. The remission of' sins is represented in balm, Acts x, 38. The de&th of' Christ is showed forth in the eucharist, I or. xi, 26. Tone of' the other sacraments st  the Cilurc of l)me hsve the same cl&ims. 2. The Lord Jesus commanded only these two sacrunenta to be used for ever in his church. He ,reed many other ceremonies him- serf, such as lJng up of hands, the tempering of clay and spittle, Pueition of hands, and anointing with oil; but he did not enjoin tim obseryance of these on his disciples. t Cou. Trid., sero. 18, c. 8. 3: Dens, De 8scrim., No. 47, vol. v, p. 16S. �m. Cat., p. 148. �Jl See also Wilier, p. 66L q The pues in Or,en is Hum. 7, c. 6, In Exodum, tom. v, p. 415 o his wodm. 1
 * Ctechbm, p. 140. Bsfily, De Sacrum., c. S, prop. iv, tom. 'di, p. S80.

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