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From the history of the earliest ages of the Church, we are informed, that it was the practice to bless all inanimate things destined for the use of man, and particularly such as were used in the services of Religion. Thus a blessing was pronounced over the water and oil used in the administration of the Sacraments. Besides this, water mixed with salt, that had been blessed, was placed at the porch of Churches, with which the faithful washed their hands and signed their foreheads as they entered, and with the same water they and other things were often sprinkled by the minister. Of this ancient practice much still remains in the Catholic Church, influenced as she is by the religious motives, which, in this and other concerns, actuated the Founders of her Discipline; and laudably tenacious, as I before observed, as She ever must be of Antiquity.--Salt, mingled with the water, is deemed the emblem of prudence and incorruption; and the water denotes purity and innocence of heart; while he that enters the place of worship, and applies it, with the sign of the Cross, to his forehead, is admonished by the action, with what cleanliness of heart and hand, he should appear in the presence of his Maker.

That the Apostles and the first Founders of the Christian Faith, preached the Gospel, and celebrated the holy mysteries,