Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/188

160 fasting, alms-giving, and frequent attendance upon the Holy Eucharist, in token of the sincerity of their repentance.

The Priesthood is by Mar Abd Yeshua reckoned as one of the seven sacraments of the Church; but the same remarks are applicable here as were made under the head of "Penance," viz. that it is not regarded by the Nestorians as a sacrament in the same sense in which both we and they regard Baptism and the Supper to be sacraments of the New Covenant. In the first place, though it is admitted on all hands, that the Priesthood was "ordained by Himself," yet it has no "outward and visible sign" so ordained to represent it, and the grace conferred by the imposition of hands is one of ministration and sacerdotal authority in respect of those over whom the Spirit of God constitutes thetn overseers, not a gift conferring personal sanctification of the soul in such as are called thereto.

The statements from which the above inferences are drawn, as well as some excellent remarks upon the necessity of the sacraments, and of a validly ordained minister to administer them, are to be found in Appendix B. Part IV. c. 1, 2, where the institution, authority, and perfection, of the Christian priesthood are thus declared and supported: "The foundation of the priesthood in the Church is laid in that declaration of the of the priesthood to Peter, in the town of Cæsarea Philippi: To thee I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Its superstructure is derived from that other injunction: "Feed My lambs. Feed My sheep. Feed My sheep." Its ornament and perfection from breathing on the Apostles when He said: "Receive ye the  whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Matrimony is not reckoned a sacrament by the Nestorians, "but some Christians," writes Mar Abd Yeshua, "who possess not the Leaven, reckon Marriage according to Christ's ordi-