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A CATHOLIC ATLAS

HAR 2 1 W95

A CATHOLIC ATLAS

OR

DIGEST OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY

COMPREHENDING

FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGION, SUMMARY OF CATHOLIC

DOCTRINE, MEANS OF GRACE, PERFECTION WITH

ITS RULES AND COUNSELS, WORSHIP

AND ITS LAWS

BY THE RT. REV. CHARLES C. GRAFTON, S. T. D.

BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 1908

COPYRIGHT, 1908 BY CHARLES C. GRAFTON, S. T. D.

All rights reserved

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A

TO OCR MOTHER THE ECCLESIA ANGLICANA

AND IN GRATEFUL TRIBUTE TO HER THREE GREAT THEOLOGIANS

PEARSON, HOOKER, PUSEY

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED BY THE HUMBLEST OF HER SONS

PREFACE

DEAR READER : —

Thou wilt find somewhat in this book that will disagree with thee. And in what it disagrees with thee thou wilt find thy most advantage. If it be not writ by the Spirit mayest thou be enlightened to the answering thereof to thy profit. What cometh of the Spirit will profit if thou hast that "gracious humility which hath ever been the crown and glory of a Christianly disposed mind."

There be many books of human making the author has consulted in forming this, but that whereby he has most profited is the Holy Scriptures, interpreted by the common consciousness of Apostolic Christendom and made vital by meditation and prayer. For all lovers of Jesus agree in this that the doctrine of the cross is best learnt in the companionship of those most closely united to Him and at the foot of the cross.

The dispositions of our time have engendered much disputation, and more indifference, along with widespread rejection of the Christian faith, which is a suggestive and peace- composing sign as betokening that the reign of evil is coming to an end, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

The three principal forms of assault wear the livery and mask of science, of higher criticism, and of modern thought; yet the truths for which two stand make them rather champions of the faith than its opponents.

As the discovery of the Copernican system was found not to contradict the Scriptures, so the discoveries of to-day in geology and of the process of evolution do not contradict them. As it was not declared in Scripture that the world was made in six days, for the sun and moon did not appear till the fourth, the word written in the rocks does not contradict that written in Genesis. The evolutionary process in the formation of the universe only implies method and the intelligence of the immanent Energy in directing it. The reign of law requires a lawgiver, whose laws, being of His own making, are His and not He their servant. They are but like the keys of an instrument on which the Divine Hand, bringing out new harmonies, plays. In the presence of the new knowledge that all matter is but the expression of electricity and any so-called element is changeable into another, the objections to certain miracles in the New Testament practically cease.

viii PREFACE

The modern study of Holy Scripture has revealed much concerning the authority and origin of certain books, the redactions, the employment of Babylonian material, the incorporation of folk- lore, and poetry into them. It has shown the human element of the writers in their style, limitations, and historical omissions. But the regular and orderly develop ment of the types in the patriarchal stage and in the law, and the revealed providential guidance of the Hebrew race throughout its history, the unity and progressive unfolding of the great design of a promised Deliverer that runs through it, are witnesses to the fact that a Mind other than that of the writers guided their productions. The existence and evidences of the human element make by contrast more significant the presence of the divine.

The third opponent is modern thought, the most advanced form of which seeks no reconciliation with Christianity, but its overthrow. It holds that all religions are controlled by development and that this presupposes change, and so final dissolution. Christianity will therefore pass away. It rejects the supernatural or the possibility of miracles. It disbelieves in the inspiration of the Scriptures. As man's sinfulness is irreconcilable with modern philosophy, redemption, according to it, 'has no place in religion. It denies as worthless the Christian principles of self-denial and self-sacrifice, and the ideal of the Christian life. It adopts for its conduct the Epicurean philosophy of self- pleasing and self-indulgence. It does not believe in a future heaven, and lives for this life only. The vices recorded in the Old Testament are quoted without reference to the punishments visited by God upon them, while these advanced thinkers gloss over the immoralities of the gay Greek life which they commend.

This attack has nothing new in it. It omits to notice that Christianity is based on a Person in a way no other religion is, and has within it a super natural and indestructible power that insures it from destruction. It is proved pragmatically to be the absolute religion because it has been found adapted to all men, of all nations. It is not a series of doctrines, but a system imparting spiritual gifts proved to be true by experiment and the experience of millions. We Christians know we have passed from a mere natural into a supernatural state of life. We have been illuminated by the Holy Spirit to the perception and reception of the faith. We do not merely believe in God, we have come to know Him. He dwells in us and we in Him. The Father and the Spirit make in us their abode. They fill us with strength of will and light of understanding, and with a joy and peace the world cannot give.

In a more modified form the modern thought shows itself within the church. It rejects authority. It disbelieves in most of the miracles. It does not hold the Bible to be God's word. It bases itself, or tries to do so, on facts. It begins with man's nature and its supposed needs. Its pro-

PREFACE

IX

posed object is to give an uplift to humanity. Its means are the develop- . ment of character and an altruistic spirit. It says scholasticism must give way to modern thought. It would not have dogmas imposed by church authority. If it recites the creed it puts its own interpretation upon it, denying the facts stated to be facts. It regards the creed as a banner or symbol of a religious cause which good men are not required to believe, but are invited to follow. It leaves men to believe as they please and only asks that they be moral men and love their fellows.

This system does not recognize the fact that the Christian religion was not the product of human thought, but a revelation, and therefore is not changeable. It is incompatible with the truth that the guardianship of this revelation was committed to the keeping of a church indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It does not realize that Christian character depends on an actual and not a mere moral union of the individual with the humanity of Christ. It does not see that dogma is like the walls of a well that pro tect the water from running to waste and yet do not hinder, within limits, the fresh free thought from rising up within. It says "give us religion but not dogmas," which is much like saying give us the heavenly bodies but not astronomy. Give us flora but not botany. Give us fauna but not zoology. Give us atoms and molecules but not chemistry. Theology is as much of a necessity of religion as the science of geology is of the earth. Moreover, the dogmas of the church are a protection to the unlearned and simple from the vagaries of the intellectual. Give up dogmas, and an undogmatic church would become a whirlpool of contradictory speculations and a mother of unbelief.

This phase of modern or broad church thought has been placed under the papal ban. There is a difference, however, between the condemnation by the whole church and by the papacy. It is not that the papacy represents only a portion of the Catholic Church, but as in the individual Christian there is a human spirit and a divine spirit, so it is in the church. The difficulty with the papacy is that it, like modern thought, is the production of the human spirit. The contest between modern thought and the papacy is not therefore, as is ordinarily thought, one between rationalism and authority. Modern thought and the papacy are both manifestations of the human spirit in insubordination to the divine. For the papacy is defended by many on the theory of development, the same theory as that of modern thought.1 But the method, the end, and the final result of its development show it to be the work of the human and not of the divine spirit.

(a) In the contributory means of its growth we find frauds and for geries. Now God has no need of men's lies to carry out His plans.

(6) In the end reached by the development we have a double monarchy,

1 For the Scriptural argument see " Christian and Catholic."

PREFACE

which in both aspects is a manifestation of earthly wisdom, of love of power, and of a carnal mind.

(c) In the final outcome we have in the papacy a repetition of Israel's sin in desiring a visible head, with the result of the division of Chris tendom.

Thus both the papacy and modern thought are alike the outcome of the human spirit.

If, dear Reader, thou wouldest be controlled by the divine Spirit thou must first abide in the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church in which He dwelleth. Given by Christ, He entered into it at Pentecost and abides in it to this day. By His presence the Church becomes something more than a divine society, it is a spiritual organism. Its unity, being organic like that of the Father and Son, cannot be broken. United by the Sacra ments to Christ, as living members of this spiritual organism, we are filled with its light. In that light we understand the faith revealed. The opinion of scholars who live outside of this sphere of divine illumination is the more likely to be erroneous the more intellectual they are. It is only in the Church, and by the Spirit that dwelleth in it, the truth is known.

If it be necessary to be within the body to understand the faith, it is also needful to enter into its life. The faith is best understood by the saints. It is by the spiritual that things spiritual are discerned. This is the law of the Church's construction and interpretation of her Scriptures. She seeks not to know the mind of the writers, but of the Holy Spirit, their Author. And what the Holy Spirit dwelling in the Church reads out of the Scriptures, that the Holy Spirit must have put into them to be so read. This was the way Christ and the Apostles interpreted the old Testament Scriptures and their prophecies. To the faithful within the spiritual organism, they are confirmation of the faith. To those without, the Scriptures are not of the same import as to those within. They are not by themselves convincing proofs to the unbelieving, and not intended to be. For the unbelieving needs first to be brought under conviction of sin and to be converted and submit to Christ, and then in the body of Christ to be fully instructed. It is thus in the mystical body of the Church, and as filled with the Spirit, we learn from the Church as one whole entity what Christ has revealed as necessary for our salvation, and by acting on it become identified with Him.

It may here be stated that the idea of the present book came from a French work published fifty years ago by the Abbe Monnier, but it is not a translation, the order and general treatment being different, and the author would gratefully acknowledge his indebtedness to it. It is said that while of the clergy there are no better than the Anglican, the Anglican laity are largely uninstructed in the faith. This treatise it is hoped will aid priests desirous of teaching their people, by giving them outlines,

PREFACE xi

easily filled up with texts and illustrations, out of which they can give courses of dogmatic instruction.

The signs of the time call for such instruction, for Christian character and devotion rest on Christian Dogma. And as in preparation for the first coming of Christ there was a special work of the Spirit in the develop ment of sanctity, so the second is to be heralded by signs of persecution and unbelief on the one hand, and by a deep revival of saintliness on the other. The Church is arising from her slumbers. The hearts of men are crying out for a living Christ and a practical Christianity. In Rome men are becoming sick of the machine, the show, and the intrigues of a worldly monarchical system. They want something more vital in its piety, more in touch with human wants. In England and America men are turning from the shallowness and unsatisfactoriness of a disguised Unitarianism. It is humbly believed that the Anglican Church is being roused to her great providentially protected and designed mission. She has a message to all people. May God unite and inspire her to bear it.

The joyous end is drawing nigh when the predestined number of the elect will be completed and the kingdom of righteousness will be ushered in by the glorious coming of His Divine Majesty. Then the systems developed by the human spirit of sects and papacy will be scorched up in the divine light and the Church will be finally purified. Then the tempo rarily allowed permission of evil and sin will cease and Goodness will finally triumph. The faithful will be gathered into glory and, upheld in sinlessness, will be eternally blessed. The wicked will be unable to sin, for grace being withdrawn it cannot be resisted, and neither without it can any repent. The state of each will thus be eternally fixed. " He that is unjust let him be unjust still ; and he that is filthy let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy let him be holy still." "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

C. C. FOND DU LAC.

INTRODUCTION THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGION, AND MAN'S END

CATHOLIC ATLAS

THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION

	'Religion
	in -<
	general.
	As revealed
	in regard -<
	to man.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. ""	As to the Christian.
	Its preserva tion, de
	velopment, x and
	witnesses.

Catholic Doctrine considered in its nature.

The duty of studying it and the dispositions necessary for its

right understanding. Its sources in tradition, revelation, conciliar decisions, the

common consent and the Christian consciousness. Religion in general considered in its nature, its necessity, its

origin, its end.

As revealed, religion has regard to our duties as man to God and as man to man.

It involves our belief in God, our worship of Him and submis sion to His will.

It defines our duties to our neighbour, our parents, and all men.

It enforces the proper subordination of the parts of our three fold nature, the lower to the higher.

In regard to our duties as Christians, it involves our belief in the injury our nature has received by sin, its loss of grace and its inability, without aid, to attain a heavenly state.

It calls on us to acknowledge our sins and accept Christ and His terms of mercy as our promised Redeemer.

It enjoins the use of all the sacramental means of grace pro vided for our protection and spiritual advancement.

It bids us work for the increase of Christ's Kingdom and for the elevation of humanity.

It requires us to worship God outwardly in the way ordained by Him and inwardly with our whole heart, soul, and mind.

Its preservation in the world in the Hebrew nation and the

Christian Church. Its progressive developments from primitive times and the

revelation of the law to its completeness in Christ. Its existing monumental witnesses, science, the preservation

of the Jewish people. The extension of Christianity. Its

effect on civilisation. The testimony of the old and new Testaments, the life of

Christ, the continuance of the Church, the true Christian

life.

Its title to our reception.

blessings it brings, generally and individually.

4 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
	''upon the intrinsic importance of everything relating to
	religion ;
	upon the insufficiency of the elementary notions received in
	' Its necessity	our childhood;
	is founded	upon the absolute necessity of knowing our obligations to God,
		to our neighbour and to ourselves;
		upon the need of fortifying oneself against the sophisms of
		the world, and of providing a way of escape from its errors.
		'TI. !.• c. f the sublimity of its doctrines. It satisfies 1 , » .
		, . ... 1 the exactness of its reasonings.
		i iic in Ldii~ Ati ••• *• •• f , 1 the certainty of its proofs.
		(jts pervading common sense.
	Its -<
	advantages.
		It is for ("of the most noble and most elevated sentiments,
		the heart ~l of the sweetest and most powerful emotions,
		-the source l^of the strongest and most enduring motives.
		rlst. Prayer, because God is the source of all light and truth,
		and the Truth is apprehended in the Light He gives;
		2nd. The banishment from one's spirit of all prejudices and
THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE AS A STUDY ONE	The disposi	adverse predispositions ; 3rd. The search for the truth with entire good faith, not allow ing oneself to be stopped by difficulties in matters of minor importance ;
OUGHT TO UNDERTAKE.	tions of the heart and	4th. Contentment with proof proper to the subject; not de manding a demonstration, of which the subject is not
	mind and	capable ;
	will neces	5th. The acceptance of the truth, once sufficiently proved,
	sary to profit	although one does it at the cost it demands;
	by it.	6th. The constant remembrance that it is not enough to in
		tellectually accept religious truth, but that one must act on
		it in order to know it;
		7th. As religion is not the mere revelation of doctrines but is
		embodied in a Person, Jesus Christ, its essence lies in our
-		union with Him.
		'1st. The Ancient Traditions, scattered throughout the world.
		2nd. The Old Testament the ( the primitive and
		depository of ( Mosaic revelations.
		3rd. The New Testament containing the completed revela
		tion of God to man by and in Christ.
		4th. The Holy Catholic Church,1 in which the Holy Spirit
		dwells, and through which Christ acts and speaks.
		5th. The Apostolic traditions embodied in the Constitution
	Its sources	r and practice of the Church.
	.are	6th. The decisions of the Ecumenical Councils of the un
	divided Church, and the common consent of Catholic
	Christendom.
	7th. The Liturgical books received in the Church.
	8th. The writings of the Fathers, Doctors, and Theologians of
	acknowledged authority.
	9th. The general Christian consciousness which bears a cor
	roborative witness to the Church's faith.

The appointed guardian of the faith, a spiritual organism.

RELIGION IN GENERAL

ARTICLE II. NOTIONS TOUCHING RELIGION

§ 1 RELIGION

IN GENERAL.

Its Nature

Its

Origin

Its end

in General,

Its Revealed Duties,

Its Preservation,

Its Existing Monuments,

Its Blessings.

in the fit is CGod to man by His Sovereignty and good- widest J the bond I ness, sense. | which "] man to God by submission and love,

(^unites ^man to man by love and righteousness.

In the relation to God, it is the worship which is due to

Him inwardly and outwardly, in private or in public. Objectively, as an pt is an Screeds, duties,

•< harmonious •< outward acts

narrower sense.

appointed institute or rule of life

Subjectively, in J reference to the Spirit, as a mental act

Bunion of ^of piety.

j it is the ( knowledge

of God and His per fections,

of oneself and of one's needs,

of one's duty in this life,

of one's destiny in another.

Effectively, fit is the as an act desire to of the < reunite will and oneself affections (^with God

by belief on part of the mind, by the affections of the heart, by the submission of the will, by the practice of outward acts of worship.

Its

Necessity results

'His inherent right as Creator, His absolute authority as Sovereign Lord, His infinite loveliness and Supreme Goodness, His free gifts as our good God and the Lover of man.

'on account of his position as a creature of God, on account of his infinite inferiority, on account of his need of happiness, on account of the benefits he has received from God.

'on account of the impossibility of giving a true solid basis for moral obligations without religious principles.

because God alone is the Creator and therefore the owner of man,

because the Maker alone has the right to order the manner in which He shall be served,

because man would never have known how to have attained his final happiness if God had not re vealed it to him.

There, by grace to elevate and transform and unite man to God in all J parts of his being,

j hereafter, in glory, through a secured sinlessness to make him partaker [_ of eternal bliss.

'on the side of God from

on the side of man

on the side of his duties

("to be legitimate, J could not "] come except

(^from God,

DUTIES OF REVEALED RELIGION

In regard to our duties as man.

Our obliga tions

Our duty C One and only one Creator of all origins.

towards The directing Energy of all developments.

God is •< The Sustainer of all existences by His immanence.

to believe The Supreme Governor here and Rewarder of man in

in Him (^ another life.

f Faith.

Adoration and Prayer, e and Love. >n of His will and submission

{to obey them in childhood, respect them in age. aid them in poverty. To love our relations and

friends, to forgive our enemies as we

would be forgiven, to seek the betterment of

mankind.

The soul to rule the body that it be not given to un regulated desires and drag man down into animalism. The spirit to rule the soul, that the man be not ruled by the soul's independ-

§ 2 towards I SUDOrdi- J ent reasonings, nor made

REVEALED nation in | worldly through covetous-

RELIGION, our three- ness.

ITS FUNDA- I fold The Holy Spirit to rule the

MENTAL nature. human spirit so that, the

DUTIES. human spirit, being by

submission free from pride, may be enlightened by God. in the fact of the injury done to human nature by sin

and its transmitted effects, in the promise of Redemption and Elevation through

Christ.

It is not necessary that we accept the account in Genesis of the original trial and fall of man other Belief ^ than as allegorical. The fact of Man's impaired

nature and need of divine aid is obvious. It is a mistake to suppose Christ came merely to restore man to a former condition. He came, un- baffled by man's sin, to elevate him to a higher degree of life by union with Himself. In order to this union it is needful to use all the sacra mental means of grace provided for it. for the increase of God's righteousness among men, for the extension of Christ's Kingdom,

Work -4 for the keeping of our faith a bright and living faith, for the brotherhood of humanity and the elevation of

mankind. Cby offering oneself to God,

by offering the ordained worship and sacrifice, Worship •< by keeping holy one day in the week,

by worshipping God in the prescribed Liturgy of the Church.

f HUUrailUIl i towards J Confidence Recognition [ to it.
	to our
towards	parents
our
neighbour < are	towards
	all.
	the main
	tenance of
towards oneself	a proper subordi nation in
	our three
	fold
	nature.
1

In regard to our duties as Christians.

REVEALED RELIGION

was maintained from earliest times in simple forms of belief in God and His promises.

"Its Preservation	was later disfigured
	has been nevertheless ^preserved

by the caprices of human imagination, by the unruly thoughts of the heart, by the pride of the human intellect, by contact with heathen nations, _by the introduction of sensual idolatry.

("under the hundred absurd fables of paganism,

in the minds and hearts of humble souls every- < where,

in the body of the Hebrew nation, and finally in ^ the body of the Christian Church.

§3 REVEALED < RELIGION.

Its Progressive x Development.

Simple and childlike under the dispensation of the primitive

revelation made to the Patriarchs. More developed under the dispensation of the revelation made to

Moses and the Prophets. Perfected under the dispensation of the third revelation foretold

by the two first, as their complete development, and which was

brought into operation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Notwithstanding its changes, always one in its object, which is

constantly Jesus Christ, at first promised, then waited for, at

last who came.

Its

Existing .Monuments.

The punishment and preservation of the Jewish people, as not destroyed, but left without priesthood or Temple worship and scattered throughout the world, a witness of the coming and of their rejection of the promised Messiah.

The extension of Christianity among the most intellectual nations.

It has held its own in spite of the most persistent attacks.

From the beginning its claims have been most rigorously scruti nised. It came out victorious over Paganism.

It was not submerged by the deluge of Barbarian ism.

It overcame the attacks of Mohammedanism.

It met the new learning of the 16th Century and is meeting the scientific discoveries of the 19th. They are not found to con tradict any Dogma of the Christian faith.

Its proved fitness to be the universal religion, and so God's greatest gift to man.

It has proved its value in the civilisation it has wrought, in the abolition of slavery, the mitigation of war, the elevation of woman, its thousand charitable institutions, the social, intel lectual and moral freedom it has brought; social, as teaching self-government; intellectual, as substituting certainty for speculation; moral, as, by its aid, making man free to keep the law of his being.

REVEALED RELIGION

§4

REVEALED RELIGION. ITS

EXISTING MONUMENTS.

REVEALED RELIGION. ITS MONUMENTS AND PERFECTION

'However regarded as the Old Testament Scriptures are by the higher critics, yet they contain the records of primitive traditions.

The faith of the Jewish people and God's purposes as revealed in the history of the nations and His dealing with the chosen people.

The Acts, Epistles, and Revelation form a group by themselves wherein the Holy Spirit is seen guiding the Apostles into a remembrance of Christ's words and a fuller understanding of them.

The Gospels, containing an account of the life and death of Christ; Sunday, a weekly memorial of His resurrection ; the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, living witnesses of His teaching and of His abiding presence in His Church.

The Church, Apostolic and Catholic, which neither the Roman power, nor the heresies and divisions within, nor the Mahometan invasion, nor false prophets of any kind, nor the debasing influence of worldliness or sensuality, nor the solvents of modern criticism and unbelief, could destroy, but which bears within herself the indestructible life of her risen Lord.

The great religious orders bearing witness to the power of Christianity to enable men to set at naught the world's honours and lead consecrated lives ; together with the body of the faithful and of the Saints, in whom the supernatural in dwelling of Christ's life is seen manifested.

CHRISTIANITY

THE PER FECTION OF REVEALED RELIGION.

Its Titles to our Consideration.

It is the fulfilment of the promises God has made to man dur ing past ages.

It is the realisation of the types and symbols in the Old Testa ment, and especially in the sacrifices and divinely ordered mode of worship.

It is the fulfilment of all the prophecies made by the prophets, concerning Christ and His Kingdom.

It is the legitimate inheritor of all the privileges and covenanted blessings of the law, which order Christ came "not to destroy but to fulfil."

It is the unfolding of the Jewish dispensation into the new, higher and more spiritually endowed one, being the flower and fruit of which the old was but the blossom.

It is the successor of the ancient order of worship, liturgical, sacrificial, ceremonial, choral/ The Jewish ordinances be ing transformed into grace-communicating sacraments, like as Christ changed the water into wine.

It is the bringer in of the new order of grace, of deliverance from the penalty of sin by the death and sacrifice of Christ, and of our clothing with the Righteousness of God by faith.

It comes to bless and elevate all our earthly joys, fortify us to bear our trials, increase our happiness in this life and secure for us a blessed eternity.

THE BLESSINGS RELIGION BRINGS

Reconciliation with God.

Forgiveness of man's sin, the blotting out of a guilty past.

The elevation of man's nature, through union with the nature of the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

The partaking of the divine nature, the becoming a son of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of heaven.

The proffered possibility of attaining through union here by grace, a supernatural end or further union with God in bliss and glory.

§5 THE

BLESSINGS RELIGION BRINGS.

Generally.

Individually.

Socially.

It enlightens and elevates the intellect by the verities it reveals by the aid of the Holy Spirit.

It ennobles and strengthens the will by its moral and spiritual maxims and the enabling gifts of grace.

It comforts and fortifies weakened humanity by the loving sym pathy of Christ with whom it is united.

It purifies and sanctifies the senses by the practices of devotion and the holy ceremonial of the Liturgy.

It satisfies all the noblest instincts and aspirations of the heart de sirous of happiness and finding it in union with God.

fby the spirit, It unites God and man I J*

entirely together

and

It regenerates, reconstructs, recreates man and secures for him an Eternity of Bliss.

It fills man's present life with joy and hopefulness. It dissipates the fear of death, imparts moral courage, makes life worth living.

It lifts man above life's troubles, enriches and sanctifies all his blessings, endows hirn with a present nobility of soul, gives him an abiding peace.

It is the blessing of the family, giving it a sacramental character, making it a type of the Trinity, sanctifying all its joys and all its trials.

It unites man in a new tie of brotherhood, develops philanthropy, promotes the peace of nations, and government in the interests of the governed.

10

INSUFFICIENCY OF REASON

SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO FIRST PART

REASON BROUGHT UNDER SUBJECTION BY JESUS CHRIST, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

SPECIAL INTRODUCTION.

f Insufficiency of Reason. < Necessity of Faith. {^Agreement of Faith and Reason.

INSUFFICIENCY

OF REASON

AND

NECESSITY

OF

FAITH.

Man

f owes homage to God, for all that he has received from Him, •< has received from Him all he is and all he has; himself then entirelyto God.

Man has f capable of knowing the truth ; received an J wn^cn l°ngs constantly after the truth;

I wn'c^ *s *°° lifted to know and comprehend all truth;

^ which easily takes error for truth.

intelligence

But in

him

exists

On His

side

God alone

Hence

it

follows

Thus to submit the Reason is

f ignorance of many things, even in realm of nature;

the need to be enlightened upon that of which he is ignorant or •s which he does not understand;

the necessity to be taught if he wishes to be enlightened; l^the need to listen to those wiser than himself.

possesses infinite knowledge of all things;

knows and comprehends all possible truths;

cannot reveal aught of Himself, but that which is mysterious ;

is of all truths the most profound and the most wonderful;

has reserved to Himself the imparting of the knowledge of the

mysteries He judges best to reveal to man; is the Truth itself, a Shelter from all error ; has every right to be believed on His Word whatever He judges

best to reveal of Himself and His will.

that mysteries are not only probable, but also inevitable for man, in the material universe and much more in things im material and spiritual;

that religion in general, and any prescribed religion whatever cannot be truly divine, but on the condition that it teaches mysteries;

that a religion that has no mysteries, is by that alone convicted of being but a human invention ;

that man should submit his limited intelligence to the infinite intelligence of God, as soon as it is proved to him that such or such a mystery is revealed by God, even though he does not comprehend it.

to have trust in God;

to render homage to the infinite intelligence of God; _to fulfil one's first duty to Him.

AGREEMENT OF FAITH WITH REASON

ii

possible, because it never exceeds the Omnipotence of God; expedient, because nothing is more natural than the intercourse

between a father and his children, instructing them in those

things useful or necessary to them.

{because, chiefly, without this help, man could not have arrived at a knowledge of truths pertaining to his destiny, because, after having known them, he allowed them to become obscured by idolatries.

the first time in a limited degree, to our earliest ancestors. God speaking through nature and conscience, and in other ways.

a second time to the Hebrew people, through the ministry of Moses and the prophets, to preserve and develop the primitive revelation.

a third time to the entire world by Jesus Christ, to perfect the design of the preceding revelations and make known the full counsel of God respecting man's redemption and elevation to glory.

upon the same necessity already stated;

upon the traditions of all ancient people;

upon the unanimous faith of Israelites and Christians, each one of

whom it concerns;

upon monuments and wonders, which surround us as living wit- ^ nesses to-day.

has allowed the human mind full exercise of its natural powers ;

has never humiliated it;

has only supplemented man's natural powers in reference to super natural truths;

has ennobled and elevated man in opening to him the world of the supernatural ;

has done an act of goodness and benevolence to man.

	"The fact of
	revelation -<
	was
	It was given
	It rests -<
AGREEMENT
OF
FAITH -<
WITH
REASON.
	In accom plishing it, God

Hence

C nothing is more favourable to reason than revelation ; J nothing is more conformable to reason than submission to its ] teachings ; l_ nothing is in better accord than reason and faith.

Cm the Holy Books of the Old and New Testament; The truths Jn the decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils ; are J in the common consent to-day of the Apostolic Church;

contained . in the Apostolic traditions ;

^abridged in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.

to go against reason; To refuse I to put aside Christ and His Church ; to believe -s to put one's intelligence above that of God : them is | to refuse Him the homage of reason ;

to deny the Eternal Veracity of God.

PART ONE

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF CATHOLIC DOCTRINE

PART I

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF CATHOLIC DOCTRINE

THE REASON ENLIGHTENED.

Man unable by himself to solve the problems concerning his nature and

destiny needs Divine Help. The problems presented and the enlightenment given considered under five

heads :

God.

Man.

TProofs of His existence. J His Attributes.

] His interior Nature — Trinity, etc. ^His external operations in creation and redemption.

fBody His threefold nature composed of -1 Soul and

(^Spirit.

His origin and destiny. His degeneration and restoration. ^

His possible supernatural elevation to a blissful union with God in eternity.

1 1 i> Pre-existence. His Incarnation.

Chidden, His visible life on earth < public,

^suffering. His character. His redemption. His glorified life. ^ His divinity and the heresies;

final surrender of the Kingdom, that God may be all in all.

In general as a Religious Society:

Jesus Christ.

The

Catholic

Church.

In its nature and establishment. Its threefold divisions. Its visibility and notes. The unity of its parts. Its preservation.

In its organisation: Its head, the Apostolic College, the Hierarchy.

As the Kingdom, the living Temple, the Family of Christ; His Mystical Body and Bride.

The C relative to each one in particular;

Future •< relative to mankind as a whole;

Life ^relative to its nature and its duration.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

DOGMA. THE CATHOLIC FAITH CONSIDERED RESPECTING

God.

Creation. Man.

Jesus Christ. The Church. ^ The Future Life.

CHAPTER I. GOD CONSIDERED IN RESPECT OF

:His Existence. His Attributes. His Internal Operations. His External Operations.

ARTICLE I. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

§ 1

EXISTENCE OF GOD, PROOFS.

Ontological

or

Metaphysical

"A First uncaused Cause is necessary to explain the existence of contingent beings.

(a) For something has always existed. If not, then once nothing existed. As out of nothing, nothing can come, it would follow that

nothing now exists.

But we know that we, i.e., something, exists. Therefore something has always existed.

(b) What is it ? Is it matter and force ?

These always depend on some antecedent matter and force.

They could not therefore have always existed.

What has existed always can have no antecedent or beginning.

For what has a beginning could not already have existed.

It must therefore be a will or self-stirring Force which re quires no antecedent that is necessary to explain the exist ence of contingent beings.

The idea possessed by man of the Infinite, etc., goes to prove the existence of a God.

The universal idea of the Infinite pervading the thoughts and de sires of human nature would be an effect without a cause if the Infinite had no existence.

The spiritual desires which are inherent and universal, being part of the constitution of man, must have their counterpart in realities; just as the existence of those things necessary to the gratification of the bodily appetites, could be proved from the existence of the latter.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

i5

The way the mind of man works shows it to be in connection with mind other than its own.

Man finds himself endowed with the faculty of memory. He does not trust it, because by experience he has found it to be trustworthy. He begins by trusting it. He does so because he is born in union with some Mind on whom his thought depends.

He reasons. . In reasoning he is obliged to follow certain laws of thought. He did not make them, but is obliged to obey them. There is thus seen to be a Reason other than his own.

§ 2

PROOFS (continued).

From Nature of Man.

From

the

Cosmos.

His understanding cognises " universals," and so comes to know "law " ; which is something the reasoning faculty cannot attain unto as it can only arrive at probabilities. If law, however, exists objectively to man, then there is a Mind that utters it.

He wills and acts on the law of "causation." Cause is not a term ap plied to our observed succession of things. It is as indigenous to our mentality as digestion is to our bodies. It not only connotes neces sary antecedents to all contingent beings, but no antecedent so far as Cause itself is concerned. There is then a First Cause or Creator.

His heart loves. It finds, however, naught here that can fully satisfy his desires and aspirations, which reach into a future and seek a com pleted happiness of being in union with the Love that made it. There is a Father that loves His child.

His conscience. Conscience is the action of man's spiritual nature, knowing and acting together with God. This spiritual faculty is in health and joy or the contrary, as it obeys or disobeys the revealed standard of Righteousness. There is a God, a Rewarder of those

• who love and obey Him.

The geological and orderly progress seen in the formation of the world, each age preparing the way for a further development, shows design.

The Cosmos moves. The sun and planets arrange themselves and the elements chemically combine in a mathematical order, and mathe matics are the manifestation of mind.

The bees and ants, without the needed brain to build as wisely as they do, build, we say, by "instinct" or rather by what instinct is: — wisdom, in action, or God immanent in nature.

The flowers cannot think, yet have painted perfumed traps that in subtle and ingenious ways so allure the bees as to secure the propaga tion of their species. No irrational evolution of things could bring this result about. It is God that does it.

The development of the brain formation, progressive and gradual, ris ing from its low position in the oyster and creeping thing, and higher as animal life proceeds, up at last to the head of man, who stands up right, as the world's consummation and crown, makes a completed work and so one of Mind.

The marvellous drama of the construction of the Cosmos, proceeding act by act until it culminates in a world prepared for men, and with man upon it, is as likely to have been composed without an Intelli gence called God as that a great literary drama could be composed by shaking together thousands of lettefs of the alphabet.

i6

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

The beautiful and the useful though distinct ideas are one in Nature. The laws that make the useful make the beautiful. The beauty of the world is an appeal to reason.

The Appeal of Beauty.

For only by reason can beauty be discerned. It is therefore an appeal of Reason to reason. It is a testimony that nature is but a Valamen Domini disclosing God and through which He speaks.

	The
	Ethical
	Proof.
§3
PROOFS
(continued) .

'There is an universal and indelible knowledge in mankind of the essential distinction between good and evil.

There follows the necessity of a standard between right and wrong. Man has never been able by himself to make a permanent or universal one.

There results, therefore, the necessity, for man's well being, of the revelation of one.

Now the good man is not he who merely does right, but who loves right; and so love is at the basis of ethics. As man cannot love a law or an abstract idea, the revelation of righteousness is made in a person.

There is a universal and indestructible sense of responsibility in man's nature. If responsible, it must be to one greater than him self, and as all mankind are equally responsible, it must be to a Being who knows all the thoughts and actions of all men.

Standing in this relation to God, no one can be moral in a true and full sense who is not religious, and no one can be religious who does not recognise and worship God.

The -Historical.

f The common consent of mankind has recognised the existence of a Divine Being.

However mistaken in their ideas of Him, they have acknowledged their duty of offering Him worship.

They have come to recognise Him, in the most cultivated nations, as the Author and Supreme Governor of all things.

There are hundreds of millions of persons who by obedience and prayer have not only come to believe in a God, but can bear wit ness that they actually know Him. They speak to Him and He answers their prayers. They know that they dwell in Him and He in them.

The belief in God is thus a belief demonstrated by experiment and experience.

Moreover, God has appeared in Jesus Christ. God wrapped round His divine nature our human nature, and under its conditions * acted out the divine Nature that we might know God.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

CONSIDERED IN

THEIR NATURE.

ARTICLE II. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

God is a Being possessed of all possible Perfections of whom we cannot con ceive a better or more beautiful.

His Perfections or Attributes, what they denote. How apprehended by human intelligence. Their titles and content.

WHAT THEY ARE.

They express different aspects of the same Essence. Each one of God's essential attributes is God.

God for example is not merely righteous, but Righteousness is God. So God is Love, and Love is God. God is Wisdom and Wisdom is God.

The Attributes, being of the Essence of God, are thus properly termed God, but are not separately self-conscious, like the two internal operations of knowing and loving, and so are not persons.

How

APPREHENDED.

INCOMMUNICABLE.

COMMUNICABLE IN A DEGREE

A full and exact analysis is beyond man's powers, as yet he sees through a glass darkly.

They may for our better apprehension be divided into those

/~i i i . TT. I* ( internal or

God has in Himself •< , . . .

( external in operation.

m, , , , f negatively or which man is not,

Ihose that are apprehended •< s ./. , , . , ^ , .

( and positively, which God is.

C incommunicable Those that are •< and those

^communicable in some degree.

r-r . i J Positive { Oneness or Simplicity, Eternity. I Negative { Infinity, Immutability, etc.

^External {Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence.

J Holiness, Justice, Goodness, Love, Beauty, Blessedness and Joy.

THE ACTIVITY

AND

REPOSE

God is at once Eternal Activity and Eternal Repose.

God is in absolute Repose and incessant Action. Like the silver shining of the moon upon the lake, it is so still because the vibrations of the light are so intense.

God has in Himself an inexhaustible fountain of possibilities, new begin nings, new revelations. We are only at the beginning of God's wonder ful creative work. The millions of years spent in forming the present Cosmos is only the preparatory stage of what is to be. Our dear, good God and Father is inexhaustible in the richness of His divine designs.

The future of the Saints is one fixed in holiness, but full of unceasing frui tion, wonder and joy, in an active following of "the Lamb whithersoever He goeth."

2

i8

THE ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT

GOD is SUBSTANTIAL ONENESS. "DEUS EST NON UNUM SED UNUS"

A first active principle necessarily exists. Existing, necessarily it is one single independent Essence. ' For there could not be two, as one would be unnecessary. Simplicity excludes from God every kind of composition. Thus

God not only possesses all that is perfect, but He is that which

His perfections signify. He is Truth, Wisdom, Light, Life, Love. The Simplicity of His being makes Him invisible to all beings

beside Himself except to those who attain in Christ the Beatific

Vision.

THE

ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT

His

Oneness

or

Simplicity.

Eternity

God's Life is a Self-derived Life, "With Thee is the Well of Life."

It is the result of God's necessary mode of Existence as the "I Am " that He has nought to do with succession or time.

It is the possession, perfect and at once, of life without beginning or end.

It is self-producing life, God never ceasing to live His life as something new.

He is not only "the Ancient of Days," but "never withering _ youth."

Our Father in Heaven is perfect.

God is absolute and entire perfection. He is also in Himself the model of all the perfections found in His creatures.

He is infinite in understanding, will, and consciousness. Infinity signifies the unlimited.

It is incompatible with dependence and so is an Attribute of God.

As "Immensity" it must not be confounded with "Extension," which implies parts, and God has none.

Infinity

It differs from "Omnipresence" which implies the existence of creation.

It signifies the possession of all perfection to which nothing better or greater can be added, nor conceived.

It declares God's transcendence of space and time. If He were limited by them, we could conceive of a greater Being not so limited.

It implies that God has every conceivable perfection, in the ful ness of every conceivable form and degree.

It is part of the joy of the eternal state that, as a partaker of the goods of the Good God, the Saints can never come to an end of them because they are Infinite.

THE ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT

Immutability.

" I am the Lord, I change not."

'God's nature is unchangeable. "I change not." There is in a perfect being no cause for change. No external power exists that could effect it; and God Himself could not, for being perfect He could not change for the better, nor could He for the worse.

His decrees are immutable. Creation, the Incarnation, are not evidences of any change in God's Mind, but the results, in their ordered time, of eternal decrees.

His knowledge, to whom all is as present in an eternal "now," does not hinder the freedom of man's choice of action. Nor does His predestination of the means and result of salvation predetermine the final state of any individual.

His immutability does not prevent His providential care of His children and answer to their prayers, for He ever acts on the immutable law of His Being, to do for His creature the best that His unerring wisdom and love dictate to His omnipotent will.

While His unchangeable antagonism to and decrees against sin must ever be a terrible warning to sinners, His sure promises are of unspeakable consolation and strength to the penitent and just.

"With God nothing is impossible."

God as the Absolute Energy is all powerful. This power is inherent in the Divine Essence. It is without beginning, is self-subsisting and 'What. •< essential to God.

It has not exhausted itself in the present order of

creation, but is possessed of inexhaustible

possibilities.

In the supernatural commencement of the world. By its power over all being other than Itself. In the laws which regulate material things. In the superseding them, as by miracle, for moral

purposes. In His commencing a new work of creation in

the midst of the already existing order. Jer.

xxxi. 22.

:in the inorganic world it is the principle of all motion. In the organic it is the principle of its vitality. In the spiritual, the principle of spiritual life.

THE ATTRIBUTES

— THEIR

CONTENT.

(continued) .

Omnipotence.

How it reveals itself.

In re lation to creatures.

Its limitations.

Limitation is a condition of infinitude.

"Self-limitation is inseparable from a perfect nature."

God cannot do wrong or sin, for sin is a contra diction of His own nature.

He cannot contradict His own Being, but must act in harmony with His own laws.

He cannot undo the past, but He can annul the consequences of sin.

He cannot produce the Infinite, because the In finite and production are contradictory ideas.

20

THE ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT

GOD is LIFE AND THE LIFE IN HIM is LIGHT
		^p , fHow ? His Knowledge is in His Essence, knows. Iwhat? All things knowable.
			'God knows not as man knows — neither by
			reasoning nor intuition.
		How. -	The Divine Essence and the Divine Intellect are identical.
			God knows all created things in Himself and as caused by Himself, and as existing in His .. own Mind.
		Its character.	'His knowledge penetrates to the essence of things. It is infinitely perfect and unerring.
			It embraces all that is knowable in one act of
			.. cognition.
			All created things.
		What He	All things possible to His Will.
	Omniscience. .,	knows in •« Himself.	The thoughts and wills of Angels and men.
THE			Their voluntary actions, good and bad.
ATTRIBUTES — THEIR -<			^All the past, present, and future.
CONTENT (continued).			For man's free will is dependent on God for its existence and exercise.
		It does not impair the freedom •* of man's will.	Its free determinations are therefore known by Him, though they are independent. As all things are known in one act by God, they are known from all eternity.
			But the Eternal fore-knowledge does not make man's actions necessitated, but leaves him
			^ free.
			The present stage of creation concludes with a judgment.
			He who judges must know all men and all that
			is in man.
		^The result. •<	Must know each and every man's history, his trials, temptations, motives, thoughts.
•		Only an Omniscient One can do this.
		It is also the comfort of the feeblest saint.
		Not a sparrow falls without His oversight.
		^Not a sorrow or trial befalls us but He is there.

THE ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT

21

"One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all."

There cannot be any local distance between God and creation. He is therefore present to it

It is upheld by His power and so He is immanent in it. He is in all things and all things are in Him.

All things are in God because they are the thoughts of God made by the creative fiat, actual.

God is in all created things by His Essence, Power, and Presence. He is the cause of their being. He sustains them by His power.

THE

ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT (continued).

Omni presence.

His

Holiness

essential.

He is in different ways present with them.

But though creation is contained in God, God is not contained in Creation.

He is present in different ways.

One way in nature;

another way in history or the race;

one way in the Church and sacraments;

another in the souls of the just;

one way in heaven;

another in hell.

The indwelling of God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in the Christian Soul elevates it into participation of the Divine Nature and fills it with a. new life.

Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts. Holiness. ^ The moral perfection of God is called Holiness.

It lies in the pure love He has of Himself as the highest Good.

Negatively.

Positively.

Its

It is freedom from all fault or sin. Sin in creatures lies in preferring self to God. But God must ever prefer Himself, being the Su preme Good and so cannot sin.

God's will is not unstable, capable of righteousness and unrighteousness.

As He can but know what is right, so He can but do what is just.

The moral perfection or holiness of God is a neces sity of His being. It is an essential attribute of the Divine Nature and identical with it.

C Within the Divine Life God worships Himself. The Eternal Son presents and returns to the Eternal

'.,... •< Father the Holy Spirit.

ra> Without, it is seen in the sanctification of the [_ saints on earth and their beatification in glory.

22

THE ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT

"For My own sake I will do it."

God is just, not as conformable to any external standard of right, but as in agreement with His own Wisdom and Goodness.

In His dealings with His creatures He is just as conformable to arche types existing in His own mind.

His Wisdom requires that He make all things beautiful and good.

His Will demands that the means be provided for the ends desired. wHis Holiness binds Him to the fulfilment of His promises.

THE

ATTRIBUTES — THEIR CONTENT (concluded).

His

justice.

In

relation to sin.

His

abhorrence of sin.

His

permission .of it.

In His

dealings.

/It is

seen

'Sin being rebellion against God is an act not only against His Glory but aimed against His Life.

It were impossible for Him not to hate it, for other wise it were possible for Him to be an enemy to Himself.

God cannot will it in itself, or as a means to a good

end. But He can permit it temporarily as a basis of His

Redeeming work. "Its permission thus on the part of God has been

held a positive good."

fin all His dealings with the race. •< as consistent with allowing evil men to succeed, and [_ good men to suffer, for this life is but the beginning.

God is Love.

" God is Love," Love Itself.

It is Love as the Holy Spirit that unites the Father and Son in the

Blessed Trinity.

It is this Love that is the uniting principle of God and Man. God's life in the Blessed Trinity is one of perpetual joy and delight. God has in Himself the perfect object and fruition and return of His

own Life and Love.

He lives in the blessed jubilation and blessedness of His being. He is to be loved for what He is in Himself.

It leads to God becoming Incarnate and dying on the Cross to save

sinners. It leads to the establishment of the Sacraments as means of uniting

men to the Incarnate Lord. It leads to the sending of the Holy Spirit by whom the Sacraments

are made effective.

It effects the dearest, most blessed union between God and Man. " I neither am, nor care to be, if He is not."

f " How great is His goodness, and how great is His Beauty."

God takes delight in the goodness and beauty of His Divine Essence. -{ God is absolute Beauty.

Each aspect of His Being is glorified by it.

l^His Divine Beauty is the type of all that is beautiful in creation.

Towards man.

SIMPLICITY OF ESSENCE

r Simplicity of Essence.

ARTICLE III. IN His INTERIOR NATURE. < Quality of Internal Operations.

{^Trinity of Persons.

IN THE

SIMPLICITY OP His

ESSENCE, GOD ALONE POSSESSES.

'Substantial being, by virtue of which He is

Infinite intelligence, which implies

An infinitely perfect will, from which follows

one, uncompounded, pure spirit, existing without parts; necessary, because without Him the contingent could not exist ;

eternal, because He is that which has always existed, having neither beginning nor ending;

infinite, because nothing can limit Him;

omnipotent, by virtue of which He can execute all He desires ;

omnipresent, because all that is lies in His own thought and is sustained by the presence of His Power.

Cof all truth ;

profound and inex- J of all goodness; ^ haustible source ] of all justice;

l^of all perfection.

Tpast, 'His omniscience and knowledge J present,

of all things, ] future, and all

(^potentialities.

infallibility, because He knows all; veracity, because He is the Truth itself;

wisdom, because He never acts from motives unworthy of Him self, or without purpose.

Holiness, which is essentially identical with His other attributes and God is Holiness just as He is Love.

Justice, which demands a recognition of His sovereignty, obedi ence to the moral law and which renders to every one accord ing to his work.

Goodness, that leads Him to seek the good of all His creatures ; here by gifts and discipline, and hereafter by a perfected union with Himself.

Love, which He is Himself. He is Love. His love towards His creatures is a Benevolent love, being His own Love directed towards them.

Is a Gratuitous love, being freely given.

Is a Wise and Holy love that punishes to save.

Is an Intimate love that unites man to Itself and a participation of its own beatitude.

In its relation to fallen humanity, it is mercy and salvation. In its relation to sinners, it is long-suffering and freely offered.

His Beauty, Blessedness, and Joy, as complete and self-satisfying in His own life.

DUALITY OF INTERNAL OPERATIONS

,-, C Infinite Intelhqence.

GOD is ESSENTIALLY •< n ' , , Tr/ .„ yJ1£-t T

\Perfect Will and Infinite Love.

DUALITY OF

INTERNAL

OPERATIONS.

Two operations are essentially active in God, and God is Himself the first and essential object of their action. They are God's acts of knowing and loving.

Concerning the two operations,

An infinite intelligence.

As perfect will and unbounded love.

the one of the Intelligence whose property is to conceive and produce the Thought;

the other of the Will, whose property is to aspire and unite itself by Love, to the Thought, so conceived and produced.

God is eternally and essentially thinking by an act, pure and always effective.

He is necessarily Himself the essential object of His Eternal Thought.

This Eternal Thought is the faithful, complete, and eternal re production of Himself.

By the same, the thought is eternally and essentially living and subsisting in Him.

This Thought, eternally living and subsisting in God, is then the Product; or the Son eternally conceived and begotten. It is the Word, the Wisdom of the Eternal Father. The WTisdom knowing itself to be the Wisdom is possessed of personality.

Hence two primary relations exist in God: — Fatherhood and Sonship.

By an act pure and simple and always effective of His Infinite Will, God aspires and unites Himself forever and essentially by Love, to the Word that He eternally conceives and be gets in Himself.

The Word is then the Eternal Object of His aspirations and of His love.

On His side, this Word of God, this Eternal Son, being essen tially living and subsisting in Him, aspires and unites Himself forever and essentially by love to the Father, who conceives and begets Him and who is Himself the Eternal Object of the aspirations and love of His Son.

The result of this mutual aspiration is mutual essential Love, always living and subsisting in God, of the Father Eternal, for the Son, and of this Eternal Son for the Father, that conceives and begets Him.

Hence it comes that this Love, breathed forth and proceeding, is called the Holy Spirit, and knowing Itself to be, is a Person.

TRINITY OF PERSONS

'There is in this Trinity

And in this Trinity there is

fThe Father, or the Source,

The Son, or the Word of the Father,

The Holy Spirit, or the Love of the Father and of the Son,

{who is neither made nor created nor begotten; but who begets ever and eternally His Son, like to Himself hi all things, save in the act of begetting.

(neither made nor created, but eternally and ever being begotten of the Substance of the Father.

I

neither made nor created nor begotten, but ever proceeding eternally from the Father and through the Son, by way of breath or spiration.

J unity, consubstantiality, perfect equality as to essence; ] distinction without division or confusion of personality.

TRINITY
OF ^ PERSONS.
	Moreover this adorable " «. Mystery

Has been imperfectly known before Jesus Christ, being taught in an enigmatical manner in the Old Testament; positively formulated and taught by Our Lord Jesus Christ in the formula given for Holy Baptism.

Has always been believed since then as the fundamental mystery of Christian and Catholic faith.

Offers nothing in its annunciation which is contrary to reason, , f the Unity is affirmed of the nature of the Divine Essence ;

{ the Trinity of the personality only.

Although relating to the same object, this double affirmation does not treat of it in the same way, and this accounts for there being no contradiction of terms.

Is nevertheless above the powers of reason, which cannot give com pletely to itself an account of all these relations. It cannot there fore be comprehended by reason, though it may be apprehended by it.

Can always be explained to a certain point, by the similitudes taken from the triple nature of man, consisting of body, soul, and spirit; of the three faculties of the human soul, the memory, understand ing, and will ; from the triple oneness of light, and from other oper ations of nature, where one sees constantly multiplicity summing itself up in unity.

Is in perfect accord with what we know of the nature of God, who cannot be conceived of as without being, intelligence, and will, and whose nature is of such mysterious character that these three, i.e., being, intelligence, and will may readily be conceived as being eternally distinct centres of self-consciousness, i.e., persons.

Because, if there were not three persons in the Godhead, but only one, God would be condemned thereby to an eternal solitude, and so would be the most miserable of beings. Thus the Unitarian hypothesis is seen to be an irrational one.

Hence, the mystery satisfies the reason of him who apprehends that God must be the most blissful, perfect, and beautiful of beings, and which without this Divine Companionship He could not be.

OF THE FATHER, THE FIRST PERSON

OF THE FATHER, THE FIRST PERSON.

{of the Father, of the Son. of the Holy Spirit.

"Creation what it is.

Opposing theories.

It is the act by which God gives existence to all that which is not Hun- self and draws not from His Own Substance, but creates from no pre-existing matter, the angels in the heavens, and everything from the grain of sand to man, on the earth.

It is the glorious manifestation of the Divine Power.

'Materialism leaves the structure of the Universe to chance, which is irrational.

Pantheism, or the theory which holds that "All is God," makes God the author of, and responsible for, all evil.

The dual theory: "No God without a universe and no universe with out a God," either makes two Gods or confounds God and matter.

by which He maintains in the world order * ( and moral.

The continuous energy of God in creation

The common action of the Godhead .in it.

assigns to each being

the ends to which it ought to tend, all means for attaining these ends,

11 it, i u- u • f nutrition, all that which is ..

, < preservation,

^propagation.

necessary

concurs "physically" in all the actions and operations of created things and persons.

It is the glorious manifestation of the intelligent and sustain ing energy of God.

Although the act of creation by the doctrine of "appropria tions" may be "economically" attributed to the Father, yet all the external works of creation are common to the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

that the Blessed Trinity act together, "Let us make man,"

Thus in the Father shares in the operations of the Son,

the Holy of the Son, that all has been made by Him, and

Scriptures < without Him was not anything made that was

it is said made.

of the Holy Spirit, that He brooded over the face of the waters and breathed into man the breath of life.

The Son and the Holy Spirit thus participate equally in the creative action and in the government of the world.

It is the glorious manifestation of the oneness of the Divine Will.

EXTERNAL OPERATIONS

27

EXTERNAL OPERATIONS.

of the Son, or the Second Person.

The

Incarnation by which

He becomes the second Adam.

of the

Holy

Spirit,

or the

Third

.Person.

1

The Holy

Spirit

co-operates

the creative activity is consummated in the Incar nation.

the Word, the Son of God, sent by the Father, by the operation of the Holy Spirit takes of the Blessed Virgin a Body and a Soul, like ours, sin only ex- cepted, and becomes man, uniting together in

TV . -n fihe divine and

His one Divine Person < ,

Inhuman natures.

in order there should be but one personaHty unit ing the two natures, it was ordained that by birth from a single human parent, a second or human personality should be avoided.

it is the divine personality which is the bond of union between the two natures.

Christ's humanity was impersonal, not having a personality before its union with His divinity. God took on Him not the nature of a man but of man.

in the Incarnation, nothing of the divine nature, save its glory, was laid aside.

in consequence of the inseparability of the two natures and the oneness of the person, Christ's acts and words are the acts and words of God.

The Incarnation is the glorious manifestation of the Divine Wisdom.

"Being born of one of our race, Christ becomes not one like us, but one of us. As such He is capable of being the Representative of the race, with which and with whose fortunes He identifies Himself.

By His obedience unto death, in which humanity was involved by sin, He reconciles God and humanity.

By His victories over sin, Satan and death, He re verses Man's defeat.

In consequence He becomes as the second Adam, the head of a new and redeemed race.

The Incarnation is the glorious manifestation of the Divine Goodness.

in inspiring the prophets and evangelists who pro claimed Christ;

in making fruitful the Blessed Virgin in bringing Him into the world;

in indwelling, without measure, perpetually in Him ;

in consecrating Him to His Mission as the Messiah on the day of His Baptism;

in descending finally on the Church at Pentecost ;

in preparing the world for the propagation and re ception of the Gospel;

in abiding in the Church, and making the preach ing of the Word and the ministration of the Sacra ments efficacious.

The Incarnation is the glorious manifestation of the Divine Love.

NATURE OF CREATION

Cits Nature, Proofs, Results.

CHAPTER II. THE CREATION CONSIDERED. < The Six Epochs.

\^Its Fined Purpose.

ARTICLE I. NATURE OF CREATION.

its Definition.

NATURE

OF

CREATION.

'1st. Its

definition. It is the act by which God

2d. Its

.character.

Its

. [^

having before Him the potentiality of created things, gives to His

eternal thought an actuality of existence. They have no independent or substantial life, which God alone has,

but have a dependent existence.

He gives them this existence, and appoints the nature of each of them, according to their species and kinds.

f their nourishment,

furnishes them all that is necessary for < their preservation,

^ their propagation.

provides for their different needs according to their natural consti tution.

f the end toward which each should tend, assigns to each -< the method, of evolution or otherwise, necessary to

^ attain this end.

iu i it. * i. 11 Ttne existence of creatures, lays down the laws that shall .1 •> • , j

-< the physical order,

I the moral order.

maintain and perpetuate

Negative. It is

Positive. .It is

neither the using of nothingness, as an element of being,

nor a simple co-ordination f , ...

V- A- } of pre-existing elements, as

nor a combination K JT, . . ,. . & ., . ,

, . Materialists think,

nor any use whatever ^

nor an emanation, C

nor a radiation, I of the one divine Substance,

nor a generation, ] as the modern Pantheists teach

nor a development, (^

nor a chance result, as Materialists think.

of the elements of the beings ; of matter, ponderable and

imponderable; of the laws that govern their

development.

Tfrom absolute non-existence to real and posi- J tive existence.

] from being simply potentialities to having ^ existence in fact.

It is a purely voluntary act that no necessity con- fof the ditions.

free will •< No force constrains, no

of God. need determines, no duty

obliges. I is His unassisted act.

'the primary production

the change

the result of an act pure and ^simple

{to whom nothing is an obstacle, who can do all He wishes, who disposes everything in the way He wills. .Creation is a majestic Mystery.

PROOFS OF CREATION

f Traditional. ARTICLE II. PROOFS OF THE CREATION. < Theological.

^Scientific and Philosophical.

PROOFS OF CRE ATION.

1st. Traditional.

Theological.

3d.

Scientific and ^philosophical.

The fact of a primitive creation is clearly and formally attested by the traditions and cosmogony of all ancient peoples.

It reveals itself more or less veiled, disfigured and altered in the traditions and cosmogony of all ancient people other than the Israelites.

The positiveness of monotheistic affirmation and the sublimity of expression of the Hebrew tradition contrast with the polytheistic and often trivial character of the heathen traditions, and give to the former a superior authority.

It is a proof that the fact of creation rests on a primitive revelation.

There is the continuous, authoritative expression, indicative of a true act of Creation, exclusive of all antecedent existence and of all identification with the Creator, that pervades the Sacred Text.

The tradition of the Hebrew people, in this respect, was always uniform.

It was formally confirmed by the word of Jesus Christ declaring ex pressly that there was a time when the world did not exist.

It has become a dogma of the Christian faith, laid down in the evan gelical writings, always believed in the Church, sustained by its doctors, and proclaimed in its Creeds and its Councils.

We know that a world, external to ourselves, exists and is composed of dependent or contingent beings or things.

This contingency or interdependence of the elements or atoms of the material world is recognised by Science, which requires an ante cedent for every motion in nature.

In the face of this, the theory of an eternal material universe disap pears, for that which is eternal can have no beginning and no antecedent.

The theory that the universe is kept going by the clash of suns, which may be called the ''Bump Theory," is only the argument in an other form, of the turtle resting on rocks or legs "which go all the way down." It does not account for origin and could not be eternal.

If not eternal, the world must have been created.

The power that created it could not have been a contingent or de pendent one, or itself would require an antecedent or creator.

The only force that does not require an antecedent, has no relation to time and is a self-moving one, i.e., a will force.

A will force capable of producing the cosmos, must be an omnipo tent Will and is seen to be an intelligent and immanent one.

In the presence therefore of contingent beings, creation is a fact of which the necessity demonstrates the existence.

3o

RESULTS OF THE CREATION

ARTICLE III.

RESULTS

OF THE

CREATION.

1st. Time and space.

Successive order.

3d.

Nature of the angels.

(Time and Space.

RESULTS OF CREATION. < Successive Order of Creation. I The Angels.

Time and space are creations of God and have their beginnings. They are the media in which all contingent beings subsist. Time is the succession recognised by thought which measures the duration of these beings.

Relatively,

to those who do not yet exist, time is future; to those who exist, it is past and present; to those who are no longer, it is past; in God there is neither past nor future, all things are present, but God takes cognisance of tune as His ^ creature.

Space is the union of all the elements of extent, in which contingent beings occupy a place, and which serves to measure the distance which separates them, the one from the other.

In God there is no space, for space belongs to created things; with ^ Him is incomprehensibility. He is the unlimited; the unconfined.

("God wills

His eternal < thoughts into existence and creates.

1st. The nature purely spiritual: the Angels.

2d. The nature inorganically material : ponderable, as atoms; elements: imponderable, as ether.

3d. The nature organic and material: as vegetation.

4th. The nature organic, material, sensible: as animals.

5th. The nature organic, material, sensible, rea sonable: as man.

Nature. J

f Angels are pure spirits endowed with < , *?..

Creation.

'The Holy Scriptures

show them

Test.

tThey do not naturally come under the cognisance of our senses.

^suppose the angels to exist by way of

creation ;

do not recount the history of their creation, ^created in a state of per- J fection and happiness. | to have different functions (_ and duties.

The angels were able by their fidelity to secure the con firmation of their happiness, and a further elevation .. of being in union with God.

God put them to a test to furnish them the occasion for obtaining this end.

There were those who by pride missed this end and be came bad angels or devils.

God confirmed in holiness those who remained faith ful. They are the good angels.

The occupations of the good angels are to see, possess, praise and

love God; to execute promptly His Will; to direct, it may be, the powers of nature; to keep watch over men

and to bring them spiritual aids. They are traditionally held to consist of three hierarchies of three

orders each.

RESULTS OF THE CREATION

C Preliminaries.

ARTICLE IV. THE Six EPOCHS: •< Details of the Divine Action.

{^Symbolical Meaning.

RESULTS OF THE CREATION (continued).

Prelimi naries.

"In the

Beginning."

God created

'At the beginning of time when there was but Eter nity.

At the beginning of all things, when God alone was.

In the Word whose knowledge comprehends all be ing and according to the eternal possibilities of His will;

"The Heavens fthat is to say, space and matter, and -< and all the elements of mate-

the Earth, " [^ rial things.

These words { do not designate any determinate epoch.

a summary of a creation antecedent to the work of the six days,

can mean

Exegesis.

or a summary designation of the work of the six days as a prologue to all that follows in the first chapter of Genesis.

In Holy Scripture the word "day " can be here taken in the sense of an indefinite period of time. It does not mean a diurnal period of twenty-four hours, as the sun is not said to appear till the fourth day.

The Word of God begins, as it ends, in mystery. It begins with the mystery of Creation.

The succession given refers to the causative action of the Divine Mind. The act of creation is indeed one act, but the Eternal thought becomes manifest in time which is something created.

The creative action is thus expressed in successive appearances, the beginnings of which only are recorded. The work of each separate day is said to be done by God.

The expression "and it was so " does not denote the immediate com plete execution of the command, but is an affirmation of its ful filment.

The purpose of revelation is not to teach natural science, but that God is the maker of the universe, and in such wise that the succes sive generations of mankind could understand it. If God had described creation in modern scientific language He could not have been understood. The account in Genesis is to tell us that all things were made by Him.

Science partially discloses the general correspondence of the con struction of the solar system with the acts as revealed to us of the Divine Mind.

RESULTS OF THE CREATION

The record in the rocks and the picture in Genesis are not far apart.

God creates space and primordial matter "without form and void." It seems to signify that condition in which our solar system originally was. Motion necessarily accompanies it, for matter cannot exist without related activity. Thus God who is "Creation's secret Force" is said to "brood" over the elementary mass. The created motion results in light. And so God is represented as saying, "Let there be light,

and there was light." ^This diffused light precedes that given by the sun.

RESULTS OF THE CREATION (concluded).

Details of the Divine Action as it unfolds itself in Creation.

First.

Second.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Sixth.

^According to a theory the motion eventuates in great rings such as we see now about some of the planets. In consequence of the different degrees of velocity in their different parts they break up and by force of gravitation form themselves into spherical bodies. Later discoveries have modified this conception of the planet's formation. It is now said to be by way of separation and condensation. These are the two actions given in the Scripture. God divides and so makes. It was in this way the moon was subsequently taken out of the earth. So taken, like a material Eve, the human race, by the formation thereby of present continents, owes its development to her. (See Prof. Pickering, Harper's Magazine, June, 1907.) The firmament made by apparent separation as a canopy, is called the heavens.

In our planet's development the separation of seas and land takes place. The lowest forms of marine vegeta tion appear.

In the logical order before the existence of animal or liv ing forms food must be provided for them. And it was so.

The further cooling of the earth takes place and with it the dispersion of its enclosing vapors, and so eventually comes the appearance of the sun and moon. At first the latter was much nearer the earth. Their appear ance was necessary for the development of the vegetable and animal kingdoms.

The gradual and fuller development of the animal king dom. And God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly." It may be noted that water is the birth place of the first living forms. Not merely of fishes, but of "moving" or "creeping," amphibious creatures and of winged insects as well. Moreover the fish in the waters and the birds in the air are stated to have existed before the animals, as was the case.

fThe terrestrial animals come next and lastly man. < The upward united progress of the whole, shows that the [_ whole as such, was governed by a Mind.

Matter did not make itself. Nor did God make substance endowed with certain powers and allow it to evolve without any interference. For God remains immanent in the universe and is the intelligent, directing energy of its unfolding or development.

SYMBOLICAL MEANING OF THE SIX DAYS 33

First.

	'The six
	periods of man's
	spiritual
	progress.
THE	•
SYMBOLICAL
MEANING -<
OF THE
Six DAYS.
	All telling of a Final •<
	Judgment.

Second.

Third.

Fourth.

The Revelation of creation is a parable. "He that hath ears to hear let him hear."

"As there are six periods or actions in the construction of the material universe so there are six periods in the formation of the spiritual one. These are divided, as those in the construction of the material world are, by a gift of God, by which man stands in consequence in a new relation to Him.

The Paradisaic day. The day of light. The day of in nocence. Humanity is in its childhood. God's gift of grace.

The day of the knowledge of good and evil. The day of choice. The day of separation from God and consequent loss of grace.

-The Natural day or Antediluvial period. Man left largely to his own powers. The failure of nature. Man unable to conquer himself sinks into animalism. The separation of the waters, i.e., the separation of evil and good men. The only day hi the natural order which is not called "good."

(The Patriarchal day. The day of the Covenant. The further revelations of God to man. The Promised Deliverer. The deepening sense of man's personal responsibility. The developing virtues in man of faith, trust, and service.

-The Mosaic day. The dawn of the Church. A day of Light. Of Light organised in an institution, like the appearing in the natural order of the sun and moon. The day of the Law. The day when the prophets proclaim the coming of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness.

vThe day of advancing spirituality.

^ Christian day. The day when God became In carnate. When God the Son was visible on earth. When the waters brought forth abundantly at His baptism as the Messiah. A day like that of the first Adam of short duration. It was a day unique by itself. It was the day of restored grace. The day of victory over Satan, Death, and Hell. ^A new Head is given to a new Race.

{The day of the Paraclete. The day of the Holy Spirit. The day of the new creation. The day of the Church. The day when the Holy Spirit breathes into man the breath of life and he becomes a son of God, a par taker of the Divine Nature. It is the last day before the final Sabbath of rest and peace. It is to be noted that each day ends with a crisis or judgment. Adam has his trial and failing is cast out of Paradise. The World rejects the teaching of the prophets and Noah is saved but the unbelieving are drowned.

The Patriarchal day ends with the contest between Pharaoh and his people, and Moses and the Israelites. The Israelites saved by the blood of the Lamb go forth in safety, the Egyptians and Pharaoh perish.

The Mosaic day is one also of trial, and Israel rejecting God for their King and choosing a visible head, becomes divided and both parts are sent into captivity, but a remnant returns and is saved. The day of Christ presents its trial. Israel, after the flesh, rejects Christ and Jerusalem is destroyed and the Nation is scattered, but the Church of Christ is formed.

And so the sixth and last day, the day of the Paraclete, will end with the final judgment at the second coming of Christ. 3

Fifth.

Sixth.

FINAL END OF CREATION

{Its Nature. Its Motives. Its Means.

God being Wisdom Itself does nothing without a motive worthy of Him self.

He has made all for Himself, which is creation's highest good. He is the final end of all His works, as He is the beginning.

FINAL END OF CREATION.

1st. Its nature.

Its motives.

to manifest His infinite perfections to the eyes of in telligent, reasonable creatures, capable of knowing, loving, and serving Him;

He has I to furnish them with all the means of knowing, loving, wished | and serving Him, during all the course of their ex istence ;

to make them participate afterwards in the happiness, in which He rejoices, by the possession of Himself.

All coming from God, all are made capable of returning to God.

' Alone possessing existence.

God can find in Himself alone the ultimate reason for communicating existence to the beings not yet possess ing it.

No necessity of any kind, r&Te able to constrain no force of any sort \ Him.

3d. ("To arrive

Its < at this

means. (^result

Fully sufficing to Himself, He has no need to create. Absolutely Lord of all, no law can put the duty upon Hun.

Supremely good, He can only have done it to exercise His infinite goodness.

Supremely perfect, He could not in the doing propose to Himself an ultimate end less perfect than Himself, and to gather up in Himself the creatures who owe to Him their existence.

God gives existence to myriads of creatures.

He creates them of natures, forms, dimensions, structures, qualities, aptitudes, faculties, inclinations vastly varied.

the proofs of His goodness, the immensity of His power,

the inexhaustible fertility of His re sources,

the mindful and minute cares of His paternal Providence,

the designs that He has towards His creatures,

^the determination to perpetuate His work.

Everywhere proclaiming in them

God establishes between them a connection, which by almost insensible transitions presents existence in all L its degrees.

NATURE OF MAN

35

CHAPTER ARTICLE I.

CH is Nature. TTT ,.- 1 His Origin. III. MAN. -< TT. ^ ] His Degeneration. [^His Restoration. fin General. THE NATURE OF MAN -< , D .- • \^In Particular.

NATURE OF -<

MAN.

1st.

In

general.

fMan is a rational, com plex creature, having a triple composition.

2d. In

^particular.

The body

The soul and spirit.

The body, which falls under the cognisance of the senses; the soul, in which the reasoning faculty and memory reside; all that man has in common with the an imals but in a higher degree;

the spirit, by which God is known; moral right and wrong discerned ; and without which man could not be immortal.

The union of these, in a single personality, constitutes a man's nature, is com- Cot five external senses,

posed \of a multitude of internal and external organs. Each of these senses, or of these organs has a special function, ... /some are under the direction of the soul, others \ are absolutely without its control; Neither as the instruments of action, the means

< of preservation, or legitimate sources of en- for man,

^ joyment.

From the double point of view, physical and moral, the body

is the servant of the soul.

God has placed man's soul in the body, as He placed Adam in .. the garden, to care for it and rule over it.

Faith teaches us that he is in the image and likeness of God.

His soul and spirit cannot fall under the cog nisance of any of our senses.

Their operations are all immaterial.

One cannot attribute to them any of the prop erties of matter.

By them man holds communication with his fellow-man and God.

It has the inherent conviction that it can do or not do as it chooses.

All men are inwardly convinced of their liberty of choice.

All the customs of life assume it constantly.

All divine and human laws prove it.

Divine revelation expressly confirms it.

Without it man could not be a responsible being.

His spiritual nature being one, simple, spiritual, and not consisting of parts, cannot be dis solved.

All his best instincts demand it and what is demanded by our nature must have its satisfaction.

Humanity, as a whole, is persuaded of it and the social order would be impossible if it were not true.

The order of Divine Providence demands another life to balance and redress the wrongs and inequalities of this. ^Christ formally teaches it.

Man is possessed of a

triplicity of nature.

He has a free and responsible will.

.Immortality.

36

ORIGIN OF HUMANITY

ARTICLE II. THE ORIGIN AND ENDOWMENTS OF HUMANITY.

ORIGIN

OF <<

HUMANITY.

"Man a created being.

Human nature has come from God.

As in the Image of God.

The oneness of human nature.

Man's Creation.

In God's Image.

Oneness of Nature.

His Original Privileges.

Relation to God.

His Final End or Vocation.

There may have been other beings bodily and physically like man

on earth before the spirit-endowed man came. But with these

Scripture does not deal. The earth of itself did not bring forth this spirit-endowed man as its

fruit, for then there would have been many beginnings of such

in many countries. But since God formed him, God expresses the oneness of His own

nature by beginning with one, who was to be the head of the new

race. The description given in the early chapters of Genesis may be taken

as historical, or as symbolically true. As the Word of God ends in the mysteries of Grace and Glory, so it

begins with the mystery of creation.

'By way of formation of man's body from the dust of the earth. He brew Scripture and Science are here in accord.

The length of time or details of the process are not given.

It may have come by an evolutionary process, one stage of devel opment succeeding another.

The Scripture merely reveals the fact that it had its origin from the earth.

By way of further development of soul and spirit : These could not be produced by matter, for there cannot be more in the result than there is in the premises. Like demands like, or something greater of the same kind for its existence, and in this case it is God.

'In that he is a triple unit consisting of body, soul, and spirit. In the three faculties, of memory, understanding, and will, or as we now say, intellect, feelings, and will, which reflect the Inner life of God as Source, Wisdom, and Love

In the full expression of human nature as man, woman, and child, wherein there is an image of the Three Persons in the Blessed k. Trinity.

God did not create man one by one or separately as He did the angels. He created a nature, that with His co-operation, would express itself

in many individuals.

He ordained the sexual relation for this purpose. He creates man first because he is to be the head, and then the woman. Woman's body was not taken from the earth for then she would have

had a nature only like that of Adam.

Her body was taken physically, in germ, from the man, that she might

be a part of the same human nature. She, too, is in the Image of God ; is weaker than man physically, but

is stronger in her spiritual nature. ^Human nature is one entity.

ORIGIN OF HUMANITY

In respect of man's original state, two theological extremes are to be noticed : — that which makes him but little different from an animal; and that which exalts him into a perfect being, endowed with supernatural wisdom, and with a raiment of bodily glory that protected him from disease.

A more probable opinion avoids these extremes.

in a state of Innocence, that is, in the actual exemp tion from all sin, because God does nothing and can do nothing disorderly.

of justice, or perfection of nature, because God in creating a nature is bound by the law of his own righteousness to give to it all its nature demands.

ORIGIN

or

HUMANITY

(continued) .

Its

original

privileges.

Human nature was constituted

Man's relation to God.

rHis life, I happiness, ] and (^future

of sanctity, for as the happiness of man depends on the union of God and Man, God gave a superadded grace by co-operation with which the union by man's obedience might be maintained.

of supernatural happiness, as derived from union with God, the satisfaction of all good desires, the absence of any fear of death, the hope and poten tiality of a blissful immortality.

were dependent on his continued union with God.

His life by union with His power; his happiness and holiness by union with His grace.

This is set before us by God's presence with man in the garden.

His communion was to be maintained mentally and morally with Him who is represented as walking therein.

It was to be maintained by an ordained act of sacri ficial worship, which had a sacramental character.

Man, in obedience to God's decree was to abstain from the fruit of a certain tree.

God on His part would give in return to man, if obe dient, the tree of life.

By his obedience man was secure in his present happi ness and would gain a further advancement and reward.

This is the revealed law of God's Sovereignty and of man's happiness and future as dependent on Him.

Of all terrestrial creatures, man alone

f can come to know God, enter into communication with Him, love and serve Him,

receive and correspond with superadded gifts that will unite man to Him iri a supernatural way.

.This is called His obediential gift.

THE FINAL END OF HUMANITY

Humanity in general and man in particular, have a mission to fulfil in creation.

The vocation of humanity in the world answers to the sublime facul ties, of which God has given to man the exclusive privilege, and by which He has distinguished him from ah1 His other earthly creatures.

with an intelligence capable of knowing its Creator, and appreciating the magnificence of His works, the admirable mirror reflecting His Infinite Perfections;

1st.

Man's

vocation.

Alone. <

Human nature is endowed

It has .received

with a heart capable of loving its Creator by the sole motive of His Infinite loveliness ;

with a free will capable of conforming to the commands and wishes of its Creator's will.

the idea of the Infinite and of the absolute ;

the instinct of truth, justice, injustice, good, and evil;

an insatiable desire for happiness, by the pos session of that which can fully satisfy his in telligence, his heart, and his will;

the feeling that an Infinite Good can alone satisfy fully his need of truth, justice, and happiness ;

the assisting grace of God by which he can know and love God and do His will.

Humanity f yield to God the glory which is due Him from the work alone -s of His Creation, and render to God a worship of faith,

then can ^ hope, and love.

Hence he owes it, as his final end, his mission.

to know Him by faith through the spirit; to tend toward Him, by hope;

God calls then, man and all humanity

in this life

in the next

to love Him with all his heart, by charity; to serve Him with all his faculties;

to love his fellow-man for His sake, and work for his temporal and spiritual betterment.

{to serve God as the angels do in perfect obe dience, harmony, and advancing felicity.

In this noble and unselfish mission all men are called to unite, for God and their fellow- men.

PROOFS OF DEGENERATION

{Its Proof. Its Preliminaries. Its Results.

PROOFS

OP -<

DEGENERATION.

In man

himself.

In its

In

history.

development.

•In man's proneness to act otherwise than for his best good. In his natural rebellion against law. In the sin-engendered impulse law arouses within him. In the weakness of his natural powers to do right. In the strife between the different parts of his nature, the

flesh and the spirit. In the inclination of all men, more or less, to evil in one form

or another.

In the shame man often feels at his imperfect condition and the discord in himself.

In the misery he experiences in himself at the contradiction between his good desires and his practice.

in his tendency exclusively to be governed by self-interest and not by God.

In the inborn tendency to prefer the motive of egoism to that of law.

In his oppression of his fellows through greed of wealth or power.

In the disposition of unregenerate man to steal, lie, and to be impure.

In the dominion that external things get over him, making him their slave.

In the inordinate power of his bodily appetites.

In the follies and crimes to which his nature incites him.

In the credulity with which he accepts superstitions and re jects the truly supernatural.

In his general restlessness, discontent, and lack of peace.

'The efforts for progress so often checked.

The impotence of culture and secular education to deliver man from his vices.

The result in civilised countries which have depended on education apart from religion, seen, e.g., in the corrup tion of city governments, in a widespread system of graft ing, in the decay of commercial integrity, and the sanctity of family life.

The opposition and hatred the civilised world power has to God and Christ's Church.

Its efforts for reform being ever based on law or force, which can never make man good.

Unexplained by the injury transmitted to man's nature, he is the most incomplete, contradictory, and inexplicable of creatures.

The testimony of philosophic students of man's nature, Kant, Schleiermacher, and others, is to man's inborn sinfulness.

The testimony given in Holy Scripture is of the inherent tendency of man to rebel against God.

4o PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGENERATION

PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGENERATION.

-Man's state revealed in Holy Scripture.

Subjected by God to •a test.

"How are we to account for the fact of man's degeneracy or tendencies ?

To keep man from the errors of supposing evil to be of God's creation, or inherited by man from a former state, or as being a principle in itself, God gave an explanation.

He did it in a symbolical or allegorical manner that could be easily understood in all times and by all, young and old.

It shows how the Maker of man is God; what man's com plex nature is; how it stands in a living relationship to God on whom its life and happiness depend, and how evil came into it.

Desiring the voluntary love and obedience of His creature God gives man, and every man, a trial by which that obe dience shall be tested and that love developed.

Man was forbidden to eat of a certain tree, called the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. A test was here pre sented to his whole nature.

God in the great allegory reveals how man is ever attacked by three foes: — within himself, by the curiosity of his intellect, the sensuality of his body, and the pride of his will. Outwardly, through the world, or the solicitations of others, or by the suggestions of evil angels or Satan.

ITS RESULTS.

primary I result of ^disobedience.

The result of man's disobedience is to separate himself from the loving presence of God. God in the allegory puts him outside the garden to show what disobedience brings on itself, and how by his own exertions, man cannot return to his former estate.

God had mercifully warned man of this result of sin: " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." There are three kinds of death. Physical death, which was in the animal world before man was on the earth. Then there is an eternal death, or the eternal loss of the Beatific Vision. There is also a spiritual death, or the loss of the superadded grace, which enables man to serve God and attain this end.

When man sinned, he immediately lost this grace, as God said he would, on the day he sinned. Then he spiritually died.

{his innocence and holiness; his peace and happiness; his ability to attain to God.

his intelligence becomes obscured; his will weakened. His senses revolt against his reason. Physical death As to his powers < became to him in the nature of a punishment, because it did not open a way as now it does to the Christian, of a union with God.

The record of the primal temptation is a mirror in which every man may see himself.

The subjective experience of serious and fairly introspec tive persons bears such a powerful testimony to the fact that man is fallen that the historical and objective cir cumstances of the fall become to such a matter of minor importance.

RESTORATION OF HUMANITY

4i

RESTORATION

OF HUMANITY.

need.

{The Need. Its Nature. Its Means.

Disobedience, lawlessness, sin, from the first entered into human nature.

Human nature was not made like that of the angels, but was from the first one whole thing and was a transmissible nature.

Now God deals with us not only as individuals, but also as a whole, a nation or race, or with our nature.

When, then, man fell out of his true relation to God and in conse quence lost grace, his nature was injured; and as it could not re store itself the nature was transmitted with its inherited effects of sin. How does this take place ?

There have been those who held the theory of "Traducianism." The opposite view is that of "Creationism." There is also a middle and orthodox view that regards the human parents and God as co- factors both in regard to the body and soul, though in different de grees and ways. This gives room for the observed facts of heredity.

Man's nature is still good, not as Calvin and Luther taught, totally depraved. What is called "original sin" is the inherited result of the wrong doing the weakness and wilfulness and ignorance of those who have gone before us back to the beginning of our race.

More or less in individuals and somewhat in all, the transmitted tenden cies of our ancestors are seen, in the violence of our bodily appetites, our mental weaknesses, our tendencies to a sinful independence of

. God.

It is a theandric, or God-and-man work.

God places within man's reach the means of his restoration in such wise that it is at once His work and that of mankind.

Having voluntarily turned from God it is necessary that man should return voluntarily.

God offers a possible salvation and restoration freely to all, and pro vides the means for their attainment. It is for man to make it actual by using the provided means.

"Reconciliation is effected by Christ's atoning death, Restoration through union with His Humanity.

Those who preceded Christ attained reconciliation through faith in the promised Redeemer and were perfected by His communication of Himself at His descent into Hades.

Those who succeeded Him share in His merits by faith and are united to Him by the Sacraments.

To all God gives His prevenient grace, the grace that prompteth every good desire and action of the will, and leads men to faith and re pentance.

He enlightens also the conscience of the heathen and will judge them according to their light, and provide for their final union with Christ - in ways known to His mercy.

Its nature.

Its -means.

42 PUE-EXISTENGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

CHAPTER IV. OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

His Pre-existence. His Incarnation. His Earthly Life. His Character.

His Redemption. His Glorious Life. His Divinity. The Heresies.

ARTICLE I. PRE-EXISTENCE OF OUR LORD JRJUS CHRIST.

/ As Second Divine Person foretold _ as coming Deliverer.

PRE-EXISTENCE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

'1st.

As

Second

Person

of the

Holy

Trinity.

2d.

As Future Deliverer.

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."

Jesus Christ Himself declared that He existed before Abraham ; that He came down from heaven; and He asked the Father to glorify Him with the glory He had with the Father before the world was.

He had a pre-existing life, not only with the Father, but one in relation to the world. Through Him the Divine Light shines into Creation.

He is the source of all Truth, the Light shining in the Law ; the Light in heathen philosophy; the Light of the conscience. He is the "essential " but not the "actual " Mediator between God and His creatures before His coming.

There was from the earliest times preserved in the Hebrew race, a tradition of a coming "seed," who, though himself should be wounded thereby, would crush the serpent "evil " under its foot. There were treasured promises made in various ways to the Patriarchs, to Moses and to David, Foretold and by the Prophets before and after the Exile,

by •< designating the nation, the tribe, the family of

promises whom the Deliverer was to come. He is to be a

prophet like unto Moses, the Messiah or Anointed ; the Priest-King like Melchizedek. He is the "Orient" of heavenly origin. His name is Je hovah, the eternal self -existing One. He is the Burden Bearer of our sins. He is the vicarious sufferer by whose stripes we are healed.

His office of Saviour was set forth by the story of Noah and the ark. Noah, the preacher of right eousness and deliverer, being a type of Christ ; the ark, — with its three divisions, symbolising the three dispensations of the Church, Patri archal, Jewish, and Christian, with its one door, Christ, and one window, Faith, — a type, as it bears men in safety over the waters and up from

and in J earth to the mountain-top, of the Church.

types. | His offices of priest, prophet, and king are unfolded in an orderly succession of typical representations. That of priest, by Melchizedek and Abraham. The first of the Eternal Priesthood and the spir itual offering of the Holy Eucharist, — the other of the temporal priest's action with the shedding of blood. Abraham's great vision is of sacrifice. He offers Isaac. He goes everywhere building an altar unto the Lord.

THE PROMISED DELIVERER

THE

PROMISED

DELIVERER

foretold in types

and by deal ings with the Jewish nation

and particular .prophecies.

Isaac follows as the typical victim, and in his yielding to wrong and injustice, of the victim spirit.

Jacob is a type of our Lord as the prophet. His vision is of the ladder joining earth and heaven, with the angels ascending and descending, and he goes forth as a Missionary. He comes back leading the two flocks that symbolise the Jew and Gentile folds.

Joseph is the type of Christ as King. His visions are of the sheaves that do obeisance to his sheaf, of the sun and moon and stars that likewise honour him. He is plotted against by his Jewish brethren and falsely accused by the Egyptian Gentiles. He delivers himself by his own supernatural power from the prison of death and changing his raiment ascends to the throne. He sends from thence gifts and pro visions in large abundance to his people.

Aaron, Moses, and Joshua in a wider recurring circle depict the same typical representation of Christ as Priest, Prophet, and King. The Ark, the Paschal Lamb, the brazen serpent, the smitten rock, the Manna, declare His nature, offices, and redeeming work.

The punishments of the Jews testify of Christ. They were God's chosen people and through His dealings with them God instructs the world.

They were to teach the existence of the one true and only God, and through the Hebrew nation the world has thus been taught.

But they had a tendency to fall back into the sin of Idolatry and often did so.

At last they were punished for this by a seventy years' captivity.

We are now in face of the fact that God has punished them by a nineteen hundred years' dispersion.

What can they have done to deserve this?

If it was seventy years for Idolatry, for what is this punishment of nineteen hundred years ?

What can it be but the rejection of their Messiah ?

Again — for all these nineteen hundred years the essential part of their religion has been taken away from them. They have no temple, no priesthood, no sacrifices. They have lost the means by which they as individuals or a nation were recon ciled to God.

What have they done to deserve that their old worship should be taken from them, that it has ceased?

The only common sense answer is, the Messiah has come.

Thus Moses prophesied, the Lord thy God will raise up a

Prophet like unto me. David declared He was to be a priest forever. Zechariah, a

king- He would be our Saviour. He would be wounded for our

iniquities and the chastisement of our peace be laid upon

Him. And this is the Name whereby He shall be called : — the Lord

Our Righteousness. And. there "shall be root of Jesse and to it shall the Gentiles

seek." "In Hun shall the Gentiles trust."

THE PROMISED DELIVERER

THE

PROMISED DELIVERER (continued).

Characteris tics, time, and circum stances.

The general characteristics designating the Messiah.

The age of His advent.

The circum stances of His birth.

His life as announced by the prophets.

The great events of His life

His

sufferings.

Consequences .of His death.

'As the Vanquisher of Satan, the Hope of the Nation, the Mighty Counsellor, the Wonder- \Vorker, Mediator, Saviour, Redeemer, King, Shepherd, God, Lord, and Judge.

When the Jewish people would no longer be masters of themselves, and the sceptre shall have departed from Judah. Gen. xlix, 10.

Before the destruction of the second Temple. Haggai ii; Mai. iii.

Before the end of the seventy weeks prophesied in Daniel. Dan. ix, 25.

His mother would be, as the Jews before Christ

translated the word, "a Virgin" and "He

would be God with us." Isa. vii. He would be born at Bethlehem. Micah v, 2. A star would be seen as a sign and kings would

come to greet Him. Num. xxiv, 17; Isa.

Ix, 3.

'He would be humble in station.

He would perform signs and wonders.

He would be filled with the spirit of God.

He would preach good tidings, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to those held captive by sin. Isa. Ixi, 1.

He would be preceded by a Forerunner, the messenger of the Covenant, who should pre pare the way before Him. Mai. iii, 1.

He would be

f betrayed, sold, abandoned by His own, buffeted, mocked, spit

< upon, beaten, delivered to death for the sins of the world. Isa. liii.

David saw His body lacerated by blows, His feet and hands pierced, His mouth filled with gall, His vestments divided by lots. Ps. xxii.

In His death He would be associated with crim inals. Isa. liii.

His sepulchre would be with the rich. But He would rise from the dead. Ps. xvi; Acts ii, 31.

His seed would be counted for a generation which should not pass away.

The people who had rejected Him would no longer be His people, their city and temple would be destroyed in that generation, and they would be dispersed till the end.

Idolatry would fall and the nations would come to know the true God.

The Gospel would be preached as a witness to all the world.

The Messiah would reign over souls and His reign will have no end.

THE PROMISED DELIVERER

THE

PROMISED

DELIVERER

(concluded) .

The

preparations for His coming.

The Divine ordering of events preparatory to the coming of the Messiah in general.

The education of the Hebrew people as guardians of the Divine Revelation.

Their ordained worship typical of the Messiah and His work.

The particular Providence over the Jewish nation preserving it, and making it a spiritual lighthouse to the nations. As Greece gave the laws of thought and precision of speech, and Rome law and government, the Jewish nation, religion.

The chastisement inflicted by the captivity upon Israel, which delivered it from the sin of Idolatry, and made it faithful to its belief in the one and only God.

The course of Providence shown in the .Assyrian and Persian Empires, in the deliverance of Greece from Eastern domina tion. The providing thereby of a common language for the dissemination of Christianity.

The extended dominion of the Roman Empire providing the means, by the great national roads, of easy intercourse; the insured means of safety for travel by sea by the destruction of the pirates who had infested the Mediterranean ; the world wide peace that removed distractions and was propitious to inquiry.

The preparation of the human mind, by the acknowledged failure of philosophy to solve life's problems, or bring the needed strength for man's good conduct. He saw the better and pur sued the worse.

The creation of an intellectual environment that was suitable for the reception of the Gospel. Philosophy had "magnificently proved that man could not save himself, and how splendidly worth saving he was."

The preparation of the cosmos and of this special planet. Millions of years are occupied in its development. It is all for one pur pose : — the formation of the elements needed, and the neces sary condition, to make fitting the Incarnation.

The surpassing dignity of the event is emphasised by the grandeur and length of the preparation.

The preparation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the human and moral instrument of the Incarnation, as full of grace, wonder ful in her gifts, unique in her great office, blessed among women.

The condition of the Jewish nation, the growing expectation of the Messiah, the development of sanctity among those specially waiting His coming, the announcement by Saint John Baptist, the sanctity of the Blessed Virgin, endowed as "full of grace" for her high great office.

46

THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST

C Exposition of the Mystery.

ARTICLE II. THE INCARNATION OF J Its Possibility. OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. ] Its Suitableness.

[^Its Necessity.

THE INCARNA TION OF OUK LORD JESUS CHRIST.

-1st.

The exposi tion of the Mystery.

t be Cod

There is in the God-Man

two

distinct

natures.

two

distinct

wills.

one

person- ^ality.

2d. Its

possibility.

3d. Its -suitableness.

The Son of God takes, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, without ceasing a k°^v fQrmed °f ner substance, a soul created by God.

The union of these two natures secures man's final end.

By it a new development in creation is begun.

The God-Man becomes the Bridge joining God and Man together.

He becomes the Medium, or the Royal "Way " by which man may pass to a further and lasting union with God.

The Divine Nature is preserved en tire for He could not lay aside any of His essential attributes with out ceasing to be God.

It gives an infinite merit to the acts of the human nature.

The human nature entire is taken, in order to deliver it from its foes, pay the debt humanity owes to . God, and elevate it to glory.

f The Divine Will, because He does I not cease to be God. ] The Human Will, because He made ^ Himself truly man.

His humanity was impersonal, His Person was that of the Son of God, in whom the two natures are united inseparably. As His na tures could not act separately or apart from His Person, all He said and did were the utterances and action of God. In itself ; because, since in man the spiritual nature of the soul and the material nature of the body are personally united, there is nothing repugnant in the nature of God being per sonally united to the complex nature of man, which offers on its spiritual side a point of contact with the nature of God.

In the manner in which it is accomplished; because God,

creating the first man, without the concurrence of a father

and mother, was able for still stronger reasons to form the

humanity of His Son in a manner less extraordinary.

The goodness of God thereby found a means to manifest itself

in uniting Himself more fully to His creatures. The justice of God therein found a means to fully satisfy itself

without injury to that which His mercy demands. Man obtains thereby reconciliation with God; he is emanci- pated from the law of his old descent ; is incorporated into Christ, the second Adam; is given a new start and oppor tunity under grace; a more glorious destiny is revealed to him with the possibility of the individual's attaining it. Nothing then is more in harmony with the interests of God and man than the Incarnation.

ITS NECESSITY

4.

ITS NECESSITY.

It was the original purpose of God.

It was requisite for man's reconciliation

and for his -deliverance.

'God ever intended to complete creation by an Incarnation. The Incarnation was not an independent after-thought of God.

It is the greatest, grandest work of God as the completion of His creative design.

By it that which is created is brought into a permanent union with Himself, and a sinless and glorious creation is made possible.

We cannot suppose God's most glorious work to be one depend ent on the sin of His creature though foreseen, or that sin was a necessary condition for the glory of the Incarnation.

The union of human nature with God is the perfection of creation. It was begun in the God-Man.

God, ever purposing to unite creation to Himself by an Incarna tion of Himself, and so secure for man an eternal state of hap piness, does not let the sin of His child baffle His great design.

The Incarnation from the beginning was an eternal thought of God.

He comes, moreover, in consequence of the sin to reconcile and deliver His child.

As man could not do either for himself, God becoming Incarnate does both. He reconciles man to God by His atoning death.

His divine nature gives an infinite value to His act of reparation so that it is available for all mankind.

It was thus necessary that He should be

at once man,

and God,

so as to be able to represent the race of which He was a member.

in order to merit our pardon, and reconcile humanity to God, which as mere man He could not do.

Ju order to deliver man from his enemies and the consequences of his sins, it was necessary that as man He should meet and overcome them.

Coming as the Second Adam to the fight He overcomes sin, Satan, and death; and opens the prison-house to them that were bound.

He restores those who avail themselves of His redeeming work by uniting them to His Humanity, making them sharers in His Victory.

He' recreates penitents in Himself, making them partakers of the Divine nature, sons of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Glory.

THE EARTHLY LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

THE EARTHLY LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.

'His birth.

(His Birth.

ARTICLE III. THE EARTHLY LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. J Hls J/^T :

and Suffering Life.

{^Seven Last Words.

Against human probabilities which seemed to designate Nazareth as the place of His birth, Christ was born at Bethlehem.

He was born there in fulfilment of prophecy brought about by the Provi dence of God.

On the visible entrance of God into the universe all creation most properly is present by representation to do Him honour.

Our planet, the jewel of our solar system, if not of the universe, gives Him shelter, all it has to give, in the cave.

The heavens which He made were luminous with the stars; for whom no nobler purpose for their existence can be ascribed than that of shin ing over God's advent into creation.

Angels and men are there. Of mankind the representatives of both the Gentile and Hebrew races • and of mankind, both sexes were present.

There, too, are the cattle in the stalls, the products of the vegetable and animal kingdoms in the straw of the manger, and the gold, frankin cense, and myrrh.

When God came visibly into His creation, all creation presented itself be fore Him in acknowledgment of Him as its Creator.

He came as an infant and grew bodily to manhood that He might experi mentally identify Himself with our nature and be a source of sympathy .. and strength to every age.

'As born of a woman and so becoming one of the race, He comes under the Law and is circumcised and receives the Name given from heaven of "Jesus" or God the Saviour.

As being the Saviour He is called by Isaiah, "Emmanuel," that is, "God with us."

He is adored by the Jewish shepherds and the Gentile Magi, the latter probably led from Jerusalem by an angel-borne star to Bethlehem.

He is, according to the prophecy of Malachi, presented in the Temple, which had for forty years been adorned for this event, and is recognised by holy Simeon and Anna under divine inspiration as the promised Messiah.

He is carried into Egypt, that the word may be fulfilled "out of Egypt have I called my Son." There Joseph would have had no means to sustain the Holy Family had it not been for the providentially directed Magi making an offering of gold.

After the Egyptian sojourn He returns and is brought up at Nazareth, the name signifying "the city of Branches," and He as "the Branch" or Shoot of the root of Jesse, is called a Nazarene.

At the age of twelve years He gives the first recorded manifestation of His wisdom in His intercourse with the Doctors of the Temple; and reveals to His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, His relation and su preme duty to God. He has come to be "about His Father's business."

Passing through all stages of human life, from infancy to maturity, He glorifies the weakness of Infancy, the obedience of childhood, the no bility of labour, the return due parental care, the endurance of honest poverty, the holiness of the home, the worship of the synagogue, the keeping of the Church's discipline.

His

hidden

life.

THE EARTHLY LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

His

public lif.e as teacher.

THE LIFE THAT WAS IN HIM WAS LIGHT

He began His ministry by the miracle at the marriage feast which sym bolised His changing the water of the law into the wine of the Gospel; the change of the Jewish priesthood, sacrifices, liturgy, ordinances, into more spiritual ones; the feasts into Christian ones; and the glorification of the Old Testament by a revelation of Christ as its inner meaning.

He began His teaching in the Synagogue claiming that the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah was fulfilled in Himself.

He was formally announced by the divinely sent Messenger as the Lamb of God, and the Founder of the New Kingdom.

He began His revelation of the Gospel of the Kingdom and its spirit in the Sermon on the Mount.

The great subject of His teaching in consequence of His Nature and Office was necessarily Himself. He was the Light, Life, Way, the Truth.

He called the Apostles and especially instructed them, leading them into the belief and acknowledgment of His Divinity, uniting them to His prophetical office and commissioning them to "go and teach."

His prophetical office is evidentially set forth by His Transfiguration whereby He is proclaimed "the Light of the World." The Father uttering the words, " This is My beloved Son, hear Him."

Christ is the Word Incarnate, and His words have gone like morning over the earth.

" BELIEVE ME FOR THE WORK'S SAKE " He is a prophet mighty not in words only, but in deeds. The material world recognises her Lord and Maker.

The heavens are opened at His baptism, the Holy Spirit as a dove de scends upon Him.

The waves and the winds obey Him, the fish assemble at His word into the net, the wild beasts of the wilderness are subdued before Him, the growing fig-tree withers at His command.

Nature yields obedience to her Lord. He walks on the waters, matter obeys, and the loaves are multiplied.

A voice like thunder is heard in the Temple speaking to Him. A star announces, another leads the Magi to His birth.

The sun is darkened at His crucifixion, the earth shakes at His resurrec tion, a mighty wind and tongues of fire follow on His ascension.

In His public life, devils cry out and flee before Him. Disease and sick ness yield to His word. The lame walk, the blind see, the dumb speak, death gives up its prey.

His works bear witness of Him. He is that Prophet that should come and *. is the "Resurrection and the Life."

4

THE

EARTHLY LIFE OF JESUS -< CHRIST (contin'd).

His

works do testify of Him.

5o

THE EARTHLY LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

" BEHOLD AND SEE IF THERE BE ANY SORROW LIKE UNTO MY SORROW "

	i
	His
	bodily and •<
THE EARTHLY	mental sufferings.
LIFE OF	?
JESUS
CHRIST
(con cluded).
	i
	1

It was prophesied that He should suffer, be a man of sorrows and ac quainted with grief, be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, be cut off out of the land of the living, and stricken for our transgressions.

He becomes an object of jealousy, hatred, and persecution. The envy of the Pharisees, the wickedness of the High Priests, the worldliness of Pilate, the sensuality of Herod, the anger of the people, the cruelty of the soldiers, the avarice of Judas, at last condemn Hun to death.

He suffers mentally from the hardness of men's hearts, the blindness of His countrymen, the betrayal by one Apostle, the forsaking of all.

He endures a mysterious, voluntary agony in the Garden of Geth- semane where the sight of the sins of the race of which He has made Himself a member and representative and wrapt about Himself like some filthy dead man's leprous garment, causes Him to sweat drops of blood.

He is treated with every indignity, mocked, lied against, struck, spit upon, delivered to a most cruel flagellation, crowned with thorns, re jected for a murderer, and delivered up to crucifixion.

He suffers in every portion of His Body, in back and sides, in hands and feet and head; suffers by racking pains and tormenting thirst, surrounded by a mocking and blaspheming multitude.

He rejects the cup of gall first offered Him, and which might stu pefy Him, in order that He may bear the full pain of His cruel crucifixion*.

At last He separates His human soul from His body by His own act and so dies.

No man taketh my life from me " but I lay it down of Myself."

Its efficacy.

At the conclusion of the crucifixion, the veil in the Temple, which was a type of His body and was on the day of the Atonement sprinkled seven times with blood, was rent in twain.

It symbolised the truth of the passing of the law and that He had opened a new and living way through the veil that is His flesh into a new union for man with God.

It is to be noted that He was a priest after two orders, that of Melchi- zedek and Aaron. He fulfils the latter by His bloody oblation on the cross. He fulfils the first in the Upper Chamber, when He offers Himself voluntarily, and unites the Apostles to His own priesthood by the commission to offer or "do this" as a memorial of His death.

THE SEVEN LAST WORDS

5i

THE SEVEN WORDS, "THE PILLARS SEVEN OF SEVENFOLD WISDOM."

His HOLY ENDING.

THE SEVEN LAST WORDS.

'Jesus Christ's sufferings were consummated on Calvary. During His crucifixion He utters seven great words, divided into two classes. The first three relate to His triple Messianic office.

1st. As High Priest, and as the Lamb of God, He pleads for mankind, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

2d. As King, He rescues the penitent thief, a type of all sinners, and promises him an entrance into His Kingdom — "To-day shalt thou be with me in Para dise."

3d. As the Prophet and Shepherd, He recognises the Blessed Virgin Mary and S. John, types of the Church, and unites them together in Himself by Love, " Woman behold thy son ! Behold thy mother ! "

The next four words concern His twofold nature as the God-Man and the extension of the Incarnation in a generation which is His Seed.

4th. In the midst of His Agony, He begins the recitation of the 22d Psalm, which tells of Himself as the Incarnate One, and whatever desolation He may ex perience, God is His God. The Psalm declares His nature and office. He is one taken out of His Mother's womb. He prays for her, as she is a repre sentative of the Church, that His "darling may be delivered from the power of the dog." While reciting His sufferings and humiliation, the Psalm fore tells the coming Kingdom and the Seed counted unto Him as a generation. A people that shall be born in baptism, whom the Lord hath made and that shall eat and worship Him in the Eucharist, and extend to the ends of the world.

5th. The reality of His having a true body is announced by the word, " I thirst," and fully in the 69th Psalm from which it is taken and upon which our Lord thus puts His seal. It tells also of the seed that shall love His Name, drawn by the Love of Him lifted up for them. And therefore rejecting the gall offered Him by enemies, He accepts the vinegar-wine offered by a friend.

6th. He has a human soul, that reasons and understands and wills, and can say with the whole scope of prophecies before Him, "It is finished." He utters the words of Daniel. The great prophecy is now accomplished. He came " to finish transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy."

7th. He has a spiritual nature in union with God and can confidently say, "Drawn out of the net they have privily laid for me; into Thy hands I commend my Spirit." He looks on to the Eternal Glory — " Show Thy servant the light of Thy countenance." A glory to be shared in by all His saints.

THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST

( His Principles.

ARTICLE IV. THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST. < Poverty and Obedience.

{^Trials and Character.

THE

CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST.

His

principles.

His

poverty

and

obedience.

His

trials

and

.character.

He is preceded by S. John Baptist as His Herald, who by revelation from heaven points Him out as the "Lamb of God " who will take away the sins of the world and who will baptise with the Holy Ghost and with Fire.

As the Messiah, He takes not on Himself this order, involving that of priest, prophet, and king, but is consecrated at His baptism, when the Holy Ghost is given Him for this office, with the word of the Father, "This is my Beloved Son." He is called of God as was Aaron, not by an inward call only, but by one through God's minister ordained for that purpose.

His two great principles were the glory of God and the salvation of men. "Lo, I am come to do Thy will, O God," and, "I have a baptism to be baptised with ; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished."

His life was marked by a voluntary, chosen poverty, obedience, and trial. He deprives Himself of everything. He has no home. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." He suffered for want of food, from hunger and fatigue. He was the greatest of ascetics. He took the position of man as cast out of Paradise into the wilder ness, and who for man and as man was to fight His way back into it.

He practised obedience. In His mission to save mankind, the way had been laid down for Him by God, in the sacrifices of the law and in the prophets. He cast His human soul into the mould of Holy Scripture. He comes not to do His own will but the will of Him who sent Him. In all that He does, He is led by the Spirit, and so He says: — "As I hear, I speak."

(-His life was one of continued trial and temptation. As it was essen tial that He should, as man, reverse man's defeat, He might not call upon His divine power to save Himself from pain. He may work miracles for others, but not for Himself. He may not turn the stones to bread, or relieve Himself from the sufferings of the Cross. The power to do this and the duty not to, made the trial so intense and persistent.

He is morally tried. He might lay aside His Glory but not the divine personality to which reverence was due. He must have keenly felt the indignities offered Him. But He restrains the rightful moral indignation at the insults done His sacred person because He is to be the meek Lamb of God, and so to His tor mentors He does not open His mouth. Naught can move Him to utter a cry or a retaliatory word.

He combines in His character all excellencies and virtues. "He is tender without false sentiment, benevolent without weakness, resolute without passion. His condescension never degenerates into mere familiarity, His dignity is free from symptoms of pride. His lofty freedom from the world's tyranny never becomes con tempt for man. His stern condemnation of sin is allied with loving compassion for the sinner."

REDEMPTION

53

C Reconciliation Needed.

ARTICLE V. THE REDEMPTION WROUGHT BY J The Cross its Instrument. OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. "] The Deliverance Effected.

[_ The Results General and Special.

REDEMPTION.

three actions.

.. . f The reconciliation of God and man.

Redemption involves I r™ j i- ,. <• i •

•< Ine deliverance of man from his enemies.

t^The reconstruction and elevation of his nature.

God is love — but a love that cannot be injured or wounded would not be true love.

The notion that His greatness does not require an atonement is a denial that His Love does not feel the rebellion of sin.

Sin having separated man from God, a reconciliation was neces sary, for however God may love His creature, the active manifestation of that love is hindered so long as man is in a state of rebellion.

As the separation concerned God as well as man, the recon ciliation was a divine necessity and was predicted.

A mere act of forgiveness, without the removal of the cause of the estrangement, would not reconcile.

The cause was the disobedience and rebellion of man which hindered the action of God's love to His creature.

The barrier had to be taken away by obedience and submission to God and an act of reparation proportionate to the offence.

God does not in this punish the just for the unjust, but Christ voluntarily offers Himself to save the race with which He has identified Himself.

Reconciliation necessary.

Effected by the Cross.

God deals with us as individuals and also with human nature as an entity.

Christ as the Second Adam takes the place of humanity.

God having identified Himself by His Incarnation with the race, Christ could represent it; and, being absolutely obe dient, fulfilled its obligation of obedience perfectly.

Needing not to make any act of propitiation for Himself, being sinless, He was free to make one on behalf of mankind, as its representative.

He did this by an act of penitence in the Garden, and an act of penance on the Cross. His holy sorrow on account of man's sins was the secret and soul of all His suffering. He is our penitential representative. He is our substitute on the Cross as the scape-goat. He is our Ransom. He is the Sin- victim. He is the Lamb slain for us. His death is the ground of our reconciliation and redemption.

The acceptance of Christ's offering on the Cross rested on God's covenant with Him. By the fulfilment of it on His part, Christ effected man's redemption. All His works were meritorious, for they were voluntary, good, done in grace, and infinite in value. He merited our salvation. He gained thereby the right to make others sharers in His merits, and be saved by them.

The sin of man offers injury and insult to an Infinite God and His Infinite Love, but the action does not affect God intrin sically. The reparative act of Christ has an infinite value from His Divinity and is accepted, so that God is more honoured by Christ's obedience than dishonoured by man's sins.

REDEMPTION

Man by sin sold himself to Satan. "His servants ye are whom ye obey." He had come under the power of death. He could not attain to heaven. Even the just were detained in Hades as prisoners of hope. For before Christ no one had ascended to heaven.

Our Lord had a personal struggle with Satan, disguised it may be as an angel, and vanquished him. He allowed His physi cal death, which Satan had instigated, to take place and by His own act and victory over it changed its character.

He descended into Hades and preached and released the just. The Kingdom was His, but He retook it by right of conquest. He is the victorious warrior whose garments are rolled in blood. "His feet bear wound prints as He mounts the stair of glory; the Hand that grasps the sceptre is a wounded hand." He is the Lord mighty in battle. He thus restores us at the cost of all His sufferings, and redeems us at the price of His precious blood.

We are enabled in union with Christ to pass through death vic toriously into the eternal life. Eternal life is a life wherein, upheld in Christ, we are made secure of eternal happiness through the Beatific Vision.

REDEMPTION (continued).

The deliverance.

The

general

results.

Special results.

By His Cross and Passion Christ reveals to us the awful character of sin, in its effects and as an act against God.

By His offering Himself in satisfaction of our sins He discloses God's love and mercy.

By His whole life He paid the debt of obedience and made by His death reparation to God for our disobedience.

He fully satisfied the divine justice for the sins of mankind, and the divine righteousness by being the consummation of crea tion in righteousness.

He overthrew the empire of Satan and changed death into a gate of life.

He reconciled God and man, and man and God. He is the At-one- maker, His work, the Atonement.

He founded the Kingdom of Grace, provided remedies for sin, the cleansing of our consciences by His precious blood, the healing of our soul's wounds by the impartation of His life- giving manhood.

He died for all men and renders salvation possible for all.

There are two distinct sheddings of the Precious Blood : — that before the "Consummatum est " which is connected with the atonement; and that after, from His side, when the water and the blood flow out.

This tells us that He is the Second Adam from whose side the Church is taken and that all graces of all kinds accorded to us come from Him; that His humanity, communicated to us by the different sacraments our Lord has instituted, is the instru mental source of our new life.

That all the merits man can acquire in this life, in practising virtue under the influence of grace, are acceptable through union with His merits.

That all the recompenses God reserves for the justified are in union with Christ.

The Cross is Christ's altar, pulpit, and throne, is the measure of man's sin, the means of our redemption, the source of all merit, the tree of life.

THE GLORIFIED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

55

ARTICLE VI. OUR LORD

C Resurrection. •< Ascension.

of the Holy Ghost.

THE

GLORIFIED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.

-1st. His

Resurrection. The doctrine.

Proofs of it

from His enemies.

THE GLORIFIED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.

After Christ had finished His work on the cross and by His own act separated His soul from His body,

His soul went into Hades, the place of departed spirits. S. John Baptist had gone thither and announced His coming. Christ preached there to those detained.

He communicated to the righteous the fruits of His passion needed for their perfection.

They become thereby the spirits of "just," or justified men, "made perfect." They were made ready to ascend with Him. Bodies of the saints arose.

His body was placed in the tomb which was sealed.

As when a soldier draws his sword fro.m its sheath the one is in his hand, the other at his side, so neither the body of Christ nor His soul were separated from His divine nature.

His body was not dead as ours are when separated from their vital principle, the soul. It could not see corruption. It was incapa ble of destruction.

When our Lord had completed His work in Hades He reunited His soul to His body and so rose.

He did not come back to His former condition, but passed through death into a new state of life.

He had taken upon Himself the likeness of our sinful flesh and re strained, save at the Transfiguration, the manifestation of a glory which belonged to it by virtue of its union with His divine nature.

As no one could take His life from Him, so by His own power (the power of the Father and His own being one), He raised Himself from the dead.

Having passed through death His body rejoices in an agility and subtlety under the control of His spirit so that it moves at will from place to place, can pass through closed doors or the rock of the tomb.

It waits, however, for forty days before its final glorification, when His Divinity forever is manifested by the radiance of His form as seen by S. John.

Our Lord predicted several times to His disciples and enemies that He would rise after His death, and He rose "as He said."

It was of the utmost importance to His enemies to expose any im posture and prove His prediction untrue.

They assured themselves of His death. His death was officially certified. The spear wound piercing to His heart would alone have caused death. The embalming would have suffocated a live person. There was no possibility of a revival.

His body was placed in a tomb under the security of the public seal, and guarded by a band of Roman soldiers.

According to the Gospel narrative on the third day the body had disappeared. As it was in the keeping of the Jews it was for them to account for the disappearance.

The story they told of the disciples taking it away while the soldiers slept, is obviously untrue, as the disciples would have neither a motive nor courage for such a task; and the soldiers could not have slept through the necessary disturbance, or known who did the deed if they were all asleep.

Neither were the soldiers punished, nor the Apostles prosecuted for breaking the public seal.

Many thousand, who had been opposed to Christ and were on the spot and could examine the facts, came to the belief that Christ had risen.

56

THE GLORIFIED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

	Testimony
	of the
	Apostles.
THE
GLORIFIED	n
LIFE OF
JESUS
CHRIST
(continued).	Monumental
	•4
	witnesses.

" YE ARE WITNESSES OP ME "

'As Christ had finished His public prophetical mission, He no longer appeared to the world, but only to His disciples.

They made a public proclamation of the fact of Christ's Resurrec tion, and to the authorities of the Jewish Church.

They from the first based their teaching on Christ's Resurrection. The belief in it was not therefore an afterthought or myth-like growth.

They had all seen, talked with Him, ate with Him, handled Him, at many different times and places, during a period of forty days, and it is impossible the appearance of Christ should be of the character of a visual deception.

He had, moreover, gone on with His teaching, instructed them in the meaning of the law and the prophets respecting Himself, in stituted the Sacrament of Baptism, revealed the name of the Blessed Trinity, made known the things concerning the King dom of God. His appearance could not have been a mere mental one, or reminiscence, or they would only have known those things He had previously taught.

The Apostles became changed men by the fact and unitedly bore witness to it, laying down their lives in witness of their sincerity and its truth.

I WILL GIVE POWER UNTO MY Two WITNESSES "

The Sacrament of Baptism, because its institution can only be traced to the days of our Lord's Resurrection.

The Sacrament of the Eucharist, because it bears witness to the body and blood of our Lord which has passed through death and still lives.

The keeping of the first day of the week, instead of the seventh, as a memorial of Christ's rising from the dead.

General results.

'I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE," SAITH THE LORD

'The Resurrection was the great credential of Christ. It is the adamantine fact on which Christianity is based.

He is seen to have not only power over death but is Himself the Resurrection and the Life.

It is the sacred point where death has been overcome in creation.

It is not only a restoration of the old life, but the glorification of the body and the beginning of a higher life.

Matter passes into a new state by subjection to the spirit and is emancipated from some of its conditions.

Without the Resurrection of Christ and man's union with Him, the eternal life would be no more than an hereafter.

The denial of it is a denial of the entire conception of Christ's transfiguring and glorifying work.

Lit is the joy and strength of the Christian Church.

THE GLORIFIED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

2d. His

ascension.

THE

GLORIFIED

LIFE OF

JESUS

CHRIST

(concluded).

His

elevation.

ASCENSION is CHRIST'S CORONATION DAY

Jesus Christ elevated Himself visibly in broad day light, raising His hand in blessing. A cloud hid Him from the Apostles' sight.

His ascension is not a change from one locality in this material universe to another.

He carries His Glorified Body to the right hand of power.

He becomes thereby the living centre of the new spir itual universe.

He goes to prepare mansions or stations for His people. He is our advocate through whom all our prayers pass Its J and by whom they are presented,

purpose. ] He withdraws from sight; but He remains in His Mystical Body which He forms by union with Him self.

to convince His Apostles of the certitude of His Resur rection.

to complete His instructions which during His public life were incomplete.

to reveal the things concerning the kingdom.

to restore Peter to the place and apostleship he had lost, commissioning him to feed the sheep of the old dispensation and the lambs of the new, and open the Kingdom to Jew and Gentile.

to associate the apostles with His kingly office as be lts J fore He had with His prophetical and priestly ones, delay is | to institute the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by which persons could be made members of the kingdom.

to bestow the royal power of pardon by which persons who had fallen away might be restored to the king dom.

to give power to the Apostles to consecrate others, promising to be with them to the end of the world.

to give them mission and jurisdiction in all nations, leaving to them by His assistance powers over nature and the government of the Church.

Having ascended, Christ, according to the prophecy of S. John Baptist, baptised the assembled Church on the day of Pentecost with the Holy Ghost and with Fire.

The Holy Spirit had been given without measure to Him, and comes, without leaving His indwelling in Christ, from Him into His Church to unite it to Himself.

The Holy Spirit came down to abide in the Church, The J which before had been like the unquickened body of

result. I Adam, to make it a living spiritual organism.

The Apostles who had at different periods of our Lord's life been commissioned and associated with His prophetical, priestly, and kingly offices, were now consecrated and empowered by the gift of the Holy Ghost.

They were thus made "able" ministers of the word, i.e., enabled to perform those acts they had received authority to perform.

day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.

3d.

The gift of the Holy -Ghost.

58

THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST

ARTICLE VII. THE DIVINITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WITNESSED BY

The Messianic Predictions. His Exceptional Character. His own Affirmations.

	^The doctrine.
	The twofold
	character
	of the •<
	Messianic
	prophecies.
	His
	character
THE DIVINITY	differentiates -< Him from all men.
OF
JESUS
CHRIST.
	His
	affirmations
	regarding Himself.

"Jesus Christ, who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, suffered, died, rose, ascended, and is in the language of the Nicene Creed,

" The only begotten Son of God. Begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God ; Begotten not made; Being of one substance with the Father; by L whom all things were made."

'He was as Son of Man to be despised, rejected, betrayed, and cruci fied, having the chastisement of our peace laid upon Him.

He is also the Son of God. He is the "Mighty God " "Wonderful," "Emanuel, God with us." He has an eternal pre-existence. He is Fellow or Equal of the Lord of Hosts. He is the Angel of the Covenant, "Jehovah." The "First and the Last," the "Lord" our Redeemer, whose goings forth have been from everlasting.

f By His freedom from the prejudices of nation, age, religion, and en vironment, He is seen to differ from ordinary humanity.

He is shown to be not only holiest of men, but by His sinlessness above the holiest, no known man being without sin.

The purity and sanctity of His innermost being are seen in that, with His intense horror of sin, He makes no appeal to God's mercy for Himself.

He asserts His sinlessness before man and God. Before man, " Which of you convinceth Me of sin." As to God, " I do always those things that please Him."

He is not merely the greatest of men, but in character unlike any other known man.

-He was the object of His own teaching. He claimed an antecedent life. "Before Abraham was, I am."

He had come down from heaven. He prayed the Father to glorify Him with the glory He had with Him before the world was.

He claimed a co-equality with the Father, a parity of power and equal right to the homage of mankind.

He revealed His absolute oneness of Essence with the Father, as distinct from any mere moral or intellectual unity. " He and the Father were one thing." He said " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father."

Beginning with the Apostles He led them on to the perception and confession of His Divinity. il Thou art," they said, "the Christ, the Son of the Living God," and again, "My Lord and My God."

He could not have accepted this worship consistently if it was not true.

He asserted His Divinity before the Sanhedrim and was condemned ^ to death for claiming to be "the Son of God."

THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST

THE

DIVINITY

OF

JESUS CHRIST (con tinued).

{The Alternate Belief. The Miracles of Christ. The Spirit's Witness. The Historical Result.

Our Lord's moral character was marked by His sincerity and a pro found humility. He was the Truth itself. He sought not His own glory.

He was true and humble, but His claim to Divinity if untrue would be neither consistent with His sanctity nor His humility.

The

alternate

belief.

His

Divinity, a necessity of Christian belief.

His

miracles bear wit ness to His Divinity.

He came to bear witness to the truth, and if He is not to be believed about Himself, He was either self-deceived or an impostor.

Either we are forced to reject Him as a Teacher and Example, or ac cept the claim to Divinity which His truthfulness and our salvation required Him to make.

In the presence of His moral perfections we must believe His claims . to Divinity.

""Christ, according to Christian belief, is our Redeemer, our Justifier, our coming Judge.

He could not be our Redeemer unless Divine, for then His merits not being of infinite value would not avail for all mankind.

He could not be our Justifier, for the principle that brings about res toration cannot be different from that by which all things were brought into existence.

He could not come and be the final judge of all men as He prophesied He would be, for only God can know all things and the hearts of men.

-To be our judge He must be our God.

'Who ever believes that God is, and that He made the world out of nothing can have no difficulty in believing in any other accredited miracles.

It was to be expected, if God became incarnate and so entered crea tion, He would manifest His control over the world He had made. It would obey Him and it did.

Christ worked two kinds of miracles, those that set forth His redemp tive office, i.e., healing the sick, casting out devils, raising the dead; and those prodigies which declared His Lordship over creation by walking on the water, multiplying the loaves, stilling the storm.

Unlike the prophets, who called on the Name of the Lord to aid them, Christ asserted His own prerogative and wrought in His own name and so declared His Divinity.

This was farther witnessed by the great credential miracles which re lated to His own person : His Resurrection from the dead, His miraculous exit from the world by His ascension, and His entrance into it by His miraculous conception. "The Word was made I Flesh."

6o

THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST

		'The Apostles in many ways proclaim Christ's Godhead or base their teaching on it.
		S. Paul states His pre-existence. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. By Him were all things created that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible.
	Witness by the x Apostles.	He has an eternal generation, being the brightness of God's glory and so coincident with His source. He is the Son and so of one nature with the Father.
		He is the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
		He is over all, God blessed forever.
		S. Peter declares Him to be "God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
		Our Lord and Saviour to whom glory eternally is due.
		^S. John, that He was the Word with God and was God.
		f As found in Holy Scripture.
		There Christ is declared to be the "Logos" or "Word," the only Begotten Son. As the Word He is not only with God but "the Word was God."
		He was not only of one substance as the Word, but a Divine Person as the only Begotten Son.
THE DIVINITY OP JESUS CHRIST (con cluded).	The Holy Spirit's witness.	He is the "Life" in the sense of self -existing Being. The eternal life which is the essence of God. He is called the Word of Life. Love is the bond of the Being of God. The Son loves the Father as the Father loves the Son. The Word loves the Father and in obedience to that love comes into the world. Only God could have such love. He is Light. He is the Light that lighteneth every man. He pro claims Himself to be the Truth and the Light of the world, and »- as the Light He is the Light which is the very essence of God.
		rUnitarianism or Arianism, which believes Christ to be a Teacher
		sent from God yet denies His Deity, is an irrational and illogical position.
	The historical < result.	For God having delivered His ancient people from the sin of idolatry, would not have sent a Teacher, the result of whose teaching would be to lead His followers back into the sin of idolatry by the wor ship of Himself.
		As nearly all of His followers have worshipped Him as God, either He is no teacher sent from God, or the result of His teaching shows that He is God. Logically, we must either give up Christ _ or worship Him.
		'The heavens shone and a star led to His birthplace.
		The winds and waves and all nature obeyed God visible in the flesh.
		The sun is darkened at His Crucifixion.
	Accompanying ^signs.	The earth shakes at His Resurrection. The cloud enfolds Him at His Ascension.
	Angels attend His birth, are with Him in the wilderness, in the time of His agony, proclaim at His Resurrection, announce His re- ^ turn.

HERESIES

61

ARTICLE VIII. THE HERESIES CONCERNING OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AS GOD-MAN.

'Concerning His body.

The Gnostic, the word meaning "knowing. " The Gnostics claimed to be in possession of superior knowledge. They sought to recon cile Christianity with other faiths and broaden it to a world-wide acceptance. There were three principal types of their specula tions — Judaistic, Oriental, and Greek. S. Paul speaks of their knowledge as of a "Science falsely so called."

The Ebionites, one party of whom did not acknowledge the pre- existence of Christ and another denied His Virgin birth.

The Cerinthians, who held that Jesus and Christ were distinct. A power from God descended on Jesus to form Jesus Christ. A somewhat similar modern heresy is found in the pretended distinc tion between the "historical Christ" and the "essential Christ."

The Docetse taught that our Lord had not a real, but only an apparent body. He did not therefore really suffer. The fathers met this by saying that then God practised a deceit.

Marcion rejected the Old Testament and denied the resurrection of the body. The Church teaches that Christ had a perfect human body. " The Word was made Flesh." Christ's body rose, and His resurrection is a pledge of ours.

HERESIES.

Concerning His soul.

Apollinarius held that Christ had not a rational soul, but that the Divine nature took the place of it in Christ. He was condemned by the Council of Constantinople.

Eutyches asserted that from the union of the two natures in our Lord there resulted but one nature, the divine ; and implied the ultimate extinction of the human.

The Monophysites held a somewhat similar doctrine of but one nature and this error was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon.

The Monothelites declared that there was but one will and operation in Christ. It was into such a sanction of this error Pope Honorius was drawn that he was anathematised by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.

Nestorius taught that there were two persons in Christ and denied that the Blessed Virgin was the God-bearer, because what was born of her was not united in one person. The Church called the Blessed Virgin, Theotokos, to protect the doctrine.

The Church condemned these heresies, declaring that His two natures were united in one Divine person. The Church also declared there were two wills in Christ, the divine and the human will. Each nature and will performs its operations in communion with the other ; the human principle dependently upon the Divine. In a divine manner Christ does human things, and divine things in a human manner.

Ga

HERESIES

Sabellius held that there were not three distinct persons in the Blessed Trinity, but that the Word and the Holy Spirit were in the nature of functions. God sometimes manifested Himself as a Father, sometimes as the Word, sometimes as Love. He confounded the persons.

Arius taught that Jesus Christ was Divine in a certain sense, but was not of the same substance, was not God of God, not consubstan- tial with the Father. The Nicene Creed declares Him to be of one substance with God.

The Church teaches that it was the Second Person of • the Blessed Trinity who became Incarnate. The unity of the nature of God causes also that the Father and the Holy Spirit dwell in Him. The Holy Spirit is present as the Spirit of Christ. Christ is also in the Father and the Father in Him. This presence is theologically known as " presence by concomitancy."

The Church not only teaches us that it was the Second Person who became Incarnate, but the manner of the Incarnation.

For the right faith is that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.

God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds and man of the substance of His Mother born in the world.

Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and will and human flesh subsisting.

Who although He is God and man, yet He is not two but one Christ.

The two natures are not united like natural things by way of com position or commingling, but by a union in the person of the Son of God.

So that while there are two natures, there is only one personality or ego in Christ. This union is called the hypostatic union.

'Christ is then God manifest in the flesh.

From this unity of person it follows that whatever Christ said or did it was God that said or did it.

As by the conception in Mary the human nature was united to the divine person, Mary was the bringer forth or Mother of God.

As the human nature was united to the divine, it learned not only as ours but from within.

The union of Christ's human nature to the divine, is the source of His supernatural gifts to man.

Man in Christ is lifted up into the knowledge of God now, and here- ^ after into the further sight of Him and participation in His life.

	Concerning His
	divinity.
HERESIES (continued). *
	The
	Catholic •<
	doctrine.
1	s. results.

THE CHURCH

63

CHAPTER V. THE CHURCH OF GOD. I. IN GENERAL. II. As A WHOLE. III. ITS ORGANISATION. IV. ITS AUTHORITY.

THE CHURCH. Its End: —

It is the consummation and glorification of Creation passing

into its final stage of development. It is the eternally enduring spiritual organism filled with the

light, life, and love of God. It is the perfected Kingdom of God in which He reigns in

Righteousness and which reflects His perfections.

ARTICLE I. THE CHURCH IN GENERAL. •<

THE CHURCH.

The origin and head.

Its four developments.

Its Origin and Head. Its Four Developments. The Law of its Growth. The Progressive Prophecies. Its Earthly Christian Life. Its Continuity of Organism.

'1st. In its primitive condition.	C Under -< the ^regime
2d.
The	fUnder
organisation under Moses.	1 the ^regime
3d. The Christian society.	fUnder 1 the (^regime
4th. The kingdom of God.	C Under -< the ^regime

The origin of the Church is to be found in God's eternal purpose so to create that man by His aid might become elevated into such a supernatural union with God as would secure him in sinless- ness and so eternal bliss.

Since God bestows His gifts ordinarily through instrumentalities, the means or aid by which the individual can attain this end is accomplished in the perfected organism of the Church.

Of this body the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, is the head. He is the founder. As it is His mystical body, by His indwelling, He is its life. As the founder, all authority in it comes from Him.

of the law of conscience; the earliest revelations; help by heavenly visions; the faith in the promised seed; known as "Children of God"; the Patriarchal family.

of the written law;

the Hebrew revelations;

help by prophetical inspirations;

the faith in a promised Messiah;

known as the "people of God";

the Synagogue, or Israel.

of the Gospel ;

the Revelation in Jesus Christ;

help of grace and truth;

the faith in Christ present and to come ;

known as the Body of Christ;

the family of Jesus Christ.

of God all in all;

the Revelation of God in the Beatific Vision ;

the help of the Vision and the heavenly worship ;

when Faith is lost in sight, and Love fol lows the Lamb;

known as the Bride of God; Jhe Living Temple filled with glory.

In each of the first three there was the contrast between the ideal and the actual.

Each proclaimed thereby its own finality, by its failure to reach and embody its ideal.

Each of them was by its imperfect structure and spiritual power a veiled utterance of a better and more spiritual organisation that was to come. Faith looked on exultingly to a future.

Each was filled in an increasing degree with the spirit of prophecy that illuminated and glorified its structure and proclaimed the grandeur of the heavenly beauty and power of its successor.

Each and all of them were built upon the one that preceded it. The former always lays the foundation of the later. The later grows out of the former. It is ever the flower of which its predecessor is The former is the foundation which denotes the char acter of organisation which is raised on it. The one is organically and spiritually united to its predecessor.

So gradually the last development arrives and the Regnum Dei rises to its perfection and glorification as the spiritual organism, which

As seen in its organisation it was a family.

It told of the unity of the Church, organically one as being of one Blood.

It was united in one inherited traditional faith. The father of the family was its priest and God was wor shipped by way of sacrifice.

It had the covenanted ordinance of circumcision, which identified the individual with the sacrificial worship.

It had a glorious promise of extension to all nations through a promised Seed.

It was of a temporary character and was to develop into a wider and stronger organisation under a fur ther revelation. While nature looks back, the Church looks on to the future, for its golden age.

'Seen in its organisation, it was a tribal confederation in covenant with God as its head.

The desire for a monarchy and visible head in a king led to its division, weakness, and final punishment.

It had a priesthood, determined by natural descent, a forecast of the Christian priesthood by spiritual descent.

It had a twofold form of worship, by word in the syna gogue, and by sacrifice in the temple, foretelling of the Christian divine office and the Gospel sacri fice of the altar.

It was filled with a spirit of prophecy which foretold of the Messiah, as King, Prophet, and Priest, and of the future kingdom which would be universal in extent and be both temporal and eternal, and which should go forth like living waters from Jerusalem.

It was preparatory and temporary. The sacrifices could not cleanse the conscience. The moral law was not fulfilled.

It was the schoolmaster or guide to lead to Christ

	'"Law	that illumii
	of its " growth.	grandeur oi Each and all <
		former alwi
		mit of the f
		the bud. H
		acter of org
		and spirituf
		So gradually t to its perfe<
		.. is the etern
		"In the
		Patriarchal •<
		Church.
THE
CHURCH ^
IN
GENERAL.
		In the
		Jewish -<
		Church.
	The
	progressive ^ prophecies.

THE CHURCH IN GENERAL

65

THE CHURCH IN

GENERAL (con tinued).

The

progressive prophecies .(continued).

In the

Christian

Church.

The

apocalyptic consum mation.

ITS

EARTHLY

HISTORICAL

LIFE.

'As

Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian.

Seen in its organisation it was a kingdom of which Jesus Christ was the head. A kingdom with its officers under Him. The Mystical Body of Christ being an extension of the Incarnation. It was as the family of Jesus Christ united by a blood relationship to Him, and its members to one another, forming one generation. It was united also by a common faith, and possessed of a heavenly life. It was possessed of manifold means of grace. It was not only a society or an organisation, but a spiritual organism having life in itself by the indwelling of Christ and the Holy Ghost, and capable of com municating life.

It was, however, temporary, and under the media torial reign of Christ.

It was the kingdom of God in making, the final con summation of the divine purpose for the rational creation.

In the apocalyptic revelation the kingdom is seen from its divine side. As a revelation it is given by way of vision. It is not a literary production. It bears its own witness in that it gathers up all the apocalyptic visions given to prophets of old, showing thereby its divine origin by their oneness. It follows the sublime law of unity and design that runs through the whole Word of God from the beginning to the end.

It is divided into two parts : — the first, relating to Christ as the Prophet, King, and Priest ; the second, to the Church as the Living Temple and the Bride. Under all there are portrayed the forces opposed to Christ and the Church. The latter is attacked by the two forms of worldliness, ancient and modern, and by the degenerate and evil Church. After the final conflict comes the final triumph, and the destruction of sin and all evil. The glory of the everlasting kingdom of God and His right eousness begins its eternal and triumphal reign. The restraining and directing action of Divine Providence makes the course of one dispensation a fulfilment of the preceding and a foretelling of another. The Patriarchal is divided into two periods, Preparatory and

Wandering, and then a settled one in Egypt. The Jewish has its preparatory stage in the Wilderness, —

when Israel is led out of Egypt. The Christian has its preparatory one when Christ leads His

flock out of Judaism.

Israel was settled in the Holy Land, the Christian Church was established under the power of the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem. Israel's twelve tribes are confederated together under the judges with God as the unseen head, and so the Christian Church in the sub-Apostolic and primitive ages was under the Episcopate and Christ.

Israel comes under its self-chosen monarchy, which leads to its disruption, and so the Christian Church under the Papacy is rent asunder into East and West.

Israel is divided and goes into captivity, and so is the Chris tian Church outwardly divided and loses its spiritual power. Israel is delivered and the remnant returns and there is a re vival of holiness and a wonderful development of sanctity in the holy band made ready for Christ's coming. So in the end there is to be a revival of sanctity in all parts of the Catholic Church in preparation for Christ's Second Advent. 5

66

The Church as "the Kingdom of God" will be the mystical Bride of Christ.

ITS

EARTHLY HISTORICAL .< LIFE (continued).

Christian as the Bride of Christ.

As the Bride of Christ she will become conformed to His likeness, by passing through a life of toil and suffering like unto His.

The Church like her Lord was born in the Upper Chamber, where the great gift was made of Christ as the Living Bread, — Christ was born in Bethlehem, the House of Bread.

The infant Church for the first three centuries was persecuted, so the Infant Christ was persecuted by Herod and the innocents were slain.

The Church is assaulted by heresies concerning the Incarnation, while, like the Blessed Mother, she meditates on the great Mystery and keeps all these things in her heart

The Church like Christ has to pass through her trials, with false teachers, i.e., with Mohammedanism, with barbarians, then with worldliness, with traitors within, with deserters, with the falling away of disciples.

Modem history is the antagonism between the two kingdoms, that of the evil world and that of Christ.

The world finally will reject the Church, as Christ was finally re jected. In the end the Church is torn outwardly asunder. The outward robe of Christ is rent. The bones are not broken, but out of joint. The outward organisation suffers shipwreck. The sun and the moon are darkened. But the Gospel will be preached as a witness to all nations, and then Christ will come in triumph with all His saints and the Kingdom of Glory will be inaugurated.

fThe

n -4 Church's

CONTINUITY. ^Qneness.

As the material creation is one, so likewise is the spiritual creation. The Church is one just as the Cosmos is one.

Unity runs through all the dispensations and there is a continuity of life which binds them together.

Each dispensation grows out of the preceding one. The new rises on the foundations of the old. It is the flower of which its predecessor was the bud.

There is never any denial of doctrine previously revealed. The new flood of divine light brings its new divine gift and also illuminates the old.

The change in the law requires a change in the priesthood. The hierarchal government passes on from a lower quality of priest hood to a higher.

The sacrificial worship rises from the different preceding sacrifices into the glorious and efficacious reality of the Christian altar which is to give way to the eternal worship in glory of the Lamb.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH — ITS NATURE

ARTICLE II. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. As A WHOLE, CONSIDERED.

§ 1 ITS

NATURE.

In its Nature.

In its Establishment.

In its Three Divisions.

Its Visibility and Marks.

The Community of its Parts.

Its Preservation.

Its Body and Soul.

As Christian.

	'"Revealed
	by Christ.
ITS _, ESTABLISHMENT.	As founded.
	As
	indwelt -<
	^by Him.

'It is a Christian family composed of all who are validly baptised

and made members of Christ. It is a divinely founded Society of those united in a common

faith and under the apostolically descended ministry. It is a spiritual organism, composed of those who live by the

power of sacramental grace, and form a spiritual temple of

living stones in which Christ dwells, vivifying and illuminat- . ing it.

The Gospel Christ preached was the "Gospel of the Kingdom."

He declared its twofold character in the parables of the King

dom of Heaven. It would have the outward form of a visible society, and an in

ward spiritual power through the indwelling of Himself and

the Holy Spirit. The outward form would be the product of human and divine

action. It would be both like a "net" constructed by human

skill and like a "great tree," the product of divine power. It would as a spiritual power "be within you," like a new life

sown within a man as "a seed," or like "leaven" hidden in

society. Though visible and having outward form, it would be hidden

in the world like a treasure that must be sought for. As a

spiritual power, it was like a pearl of great price, most valuable

and most to be desired.

Christian Church was built by Christ on the foundation of the Jewish. He came not to destroy but to fulfil.

He changed the old priesthood, sacrifices, liturgy, worship, into those of a higher and more spiritually endowed character.

The work He did during His visible life was a preparatory one. It was a gathering of materials, a commissioning of officers, and a preliminary and practical teaching them.

He made the Church a living organism by the gift of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.

Church, which Christ loved and for which He gave His

Blood, is one, like a walled city or a temple, or mystical body. It is a spiritual organism in which He dwells. The Holy Spirit!

does not come to take the place of an absent Lord. The Holy Spirit comes to make Christ's Presence effective in

every part of the city, or temple, or body. It makes effective all the ministrations of the priesthood, in bap

tising, confirming, absolving, blessing, anointing, interceding,

ordaining, consecrating. The Church has in consequence a supernatural character and

vitality.

68

ITS THREEFOLD DIVISION

'It is composed of all those, who were in covenant with God, either under the Patriarchal or Mosaic dispensations.

Of those after Christ, who were made soldiers of Christ in Holy Baptism.

All these are regarded as pilgrims. Those in the Christian state are pilgrims of light. All are wayfarers.

And in the Church are the tares and wheat, the wise and the foolish, the bad and the good. They await the final sorting.

Consisting formerly of the justified who were waiting in Hades the coming of Christ and were released at His advent.

Those since, who die with grace not extinguished, but who, secured from temptation, cannot gain aught by resisting it. They must be purified from the effects of old sins, be delivered from self- love, and all that hinders the operations of God in their souls.

They must suffer the sight of their lives in the light of God's neg lected love, and endure His purificative discipline. They are helped by the prayers of the faithful and especially by the offer ing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar.

'There is our Lord Jesus Christ radiant with surpassing glory. The Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of all Saints. The nine orders of Angelic Beings.

The saints, who by their heroic correspondence to grace, have at tained their crowns.

All those who have become wholly purified and have gained the Beatific Vision.

These all are united in perfect charity and live in a supernatural union with God, filled with never ending joy and bliss.

	'"As militant on earth.
ITS THREEFOLD -<	Expectant in purifica tion.
DIVISION.
	Triumphant <.in glory.

ITS

VISIBILITY.

The Church is a visible body, for it is like a family, a city, a temple. In the totality of its three parts, it is visible to God only.

To those in glory, those in purification, those militant, it is visible, in different de grees and ways.

On earth it is visible as a Society under its Bishops, Sacraments, and Worship. This society is the Catholic Church. The interruption of communion between its several portions, Eastern, Roman, and Anglican, does not destroy the visibility of the several parts, nor of the whole considered as one body. The family is rec- ognised as a family, though its members may have ceased to speak to one another.

The Roman Catholic body cannot be said, in the presence of the fact of the Ortho dox Eastern Church, to be the whole Church, and if not the whole, she cannot be the only true Church.

ITS FOUR MARKS

The Lord so established His Church that His followers might be able to recog nise and be guided to it. He gave it four marks.

ITS

FOUR •< MARKS.

"It was to be Apostolic.

It was to be Catholic.

It was to be Holy.

Christ founded a ministry which would represent Himself and through which as His agency, He would continue to act, going about doing good.

He formed the Twelve into an order representing Himself, and empow ered them with the Holy Ghost.

He gave them mission and jurisdiction over all nations and promised to be with them to the end of the world.

When there was a vacancy in the Twelve, Christ showed whom He had chosen, and then Matthias was consecrated along with the others at Pentecost.

Christ after His Ascension personally called Paul and commissioned him as He had done the others, and then the Holy Spirit was given him in like degree and he was received into the Apostolic fellowship.

In the New Testament, no other ministry is recognised save that in official fellowship with the Apostles.

Apostolic Ministry is to be found to-day only in the Catholic Church.

The Church is universal as enduring throughout all ages. Is Catholic, for she can satisfy the needs of all men of all nations.

She teaches the whole circle of revealed truth.

Her dogmas bear, for their credibility, the test of Catholicity. They have been held from the beginning, everywhere, and by all the Church, and are proclaimed by its Living Voice to-day.

What the whole Church teaches is corroborated by Holy Scripture of which she is the guardian and interpreter.

The Church is Holy because Jesus Christ is its Head and the Holy Ghost dwells in it.

Is holy in its moral theology and its revelation of the spiritual inner life. In the counsels of perfection illustrated in its religious orders.

In the production of saints who have heroically corresponded to grace and attained to special sanctity.

In the high standard of life the Church places before all her children.

In the possession of a priesthood and sacraments by which they may attain it.

In the communion of saints, by prayers for the departed, by the mutual intercessions of the whole Church as it worships together as one body.

In the marvels, miracles, and answers to prayer, continued from the ^ Apostles' times.

7°

ITS FOUR MARKS

ITS

FOUR MARKS (con tinued).

There is a distinction between unity and union.

Christ prayed that the Church might be one, as He and the Father were one, that is, by a unity of nature, and His prayer was answered.

The Church is one as being one body and having one Head, Jesus Christ.

Her oneness is secured by the Sacramental union of all her members in Him, and so to one another.

They form thus one family by a union which cannot be broken and against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.

Christ also prayed for an outward union that the world might recognise it as a supernatural sign, and be drawn to the faith.

-Unity. -^ The union to impress the world would have to be one of an order whose several parts under an Invisible Head were united in love. Thus the Church was practically united for one thousand years. In this way the Eastern and the Anglican Communions are bound together. In the same manner might the whole Church.

An enforced union by an absolute monarchical arrangement has nothing supernatural about it and does not convince the world.

The Church is united now so far as each portion of it holds the common faith held by the undivided Church, put forth in the Seven Ecumenical Councils, guarded by the Creeds, set forth in the Liturgy, realised in the Sacraments.

Through sin, union is now in abeyance and the will of God hindered thereby. It is our duty to pray and work for its recovery, to minimise differences, to put away prejudices, to learn from one another, to work for mutual recognition and intercommunion.

THE

COMMUNITY OF ITS PARTS.

The four marks of the Church are only fully applicable to the Church Militant, Expectant and Triumphant, recognised as one Body.

The Church Militant is Apostolic in descent and government, Catholic in doctrine and extension, one in the oneness of its members in Christ, but it is not holy as the Church in Glory is holy. It possesses the means of holiness, but contains the tares and the wheat.

All parts of the Church, as Militant, Expectant, Triumphant, are in communion with one another, and participate in a common worship.

The Church Militant prays for those departed and asks of God a portion in their prayers. Christ in the use of the prayers of the synagogue prayed for the dead and left no injunction not to do so. The Church has followed His example and has prayed for their pardon and peace, rest and advancing felicity.

We are not told how they are made cognisant of our intercession for them or of our asking their prayers. They may know through the ministrations of angels or as revealed by God.

From all for whom we may pray, we may ask their prayers in return. The invoca tion of the saints is the outcome of the love that binds the Church together.

ORGANISATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 71

ORGANISATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

preservation.

Its body and soul.

.Schism.

Christ loved His Church and gave Himself for it.

The Church's preservation is made secure by the indwelling of Christ and the Holy Ghost.

The Church in its completed condition is secure in glory, being supernaturally upheld in God in Eternal Bliss.

The Church Expectant, in a state of progressive purification, is secure of its salvation.

The Church Militant, by virtue of Christ's promises, is secure of its continuance unto His Second Coming.

It has not been promised that the Church Militant will so con quer the earth as to make it Christian. Nor has it been promised that it shall not be rent; rather the contrary has been set forth by Psalm and parable and word of Christ.

It has been promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, but not that the net shall not be broken, nor that the outward garment shall not be rent, or its bones be out of joint, or that the outward frame shall not suffer shipwreck. When our Lord cometh "shall He find faith on the earth."

However, in spite of heresies, the evil lives of prelates, the sub tleties of false teachers, the errors of reformers, the mistaken lights of philanthropists, the division of Christendom, it has been preserved.

Though it be the "last time" and the sun and moon be dark ened and stars fall, and there come the last struggle with the final antichrist, yet the Church having a supernatural life will await her Lord's coming.

The last antichrist will take the form of a counterfeit Christ. It will invade politics, government, religion. It will base itself on science and reason, and eschew the Christian creeds and sacraments and dogmas as superstitions, and propose great things in the name of humanity for man's betterment.

It will have no need of a Saviour or of repentance and convic tion of sin.

Its momentary triumph will be succeeded by the advent of Christ, the overthrow of the world, and the bringing of the new kingdom.

Theologians have regarded the Church under the analogy of a human being, as possessed of a body and soul. There are those who are members of the external visible society, but who, not having a living faith, do not belong to its soul. There are those, who without fault of their own, are not members of the body but have a living faith in Christ and all He has revealed, whom God may regard as belonging to the Soul of the Church.

Holy Scripture tells us that schism is a sin. Like all sins it may be regarded as formal or material. Schism to be sinful must be formal; the party committing it doing it wilfully and knowingly.

Schism is a division in the Church, the result of some quarrel. How are we to know which side is in the wrong ? It cannot be by the size of either party, nor necessarily by the priority of establishment, but the guilty party is he who makes and is responsible for the keeping up of the quarrel.

If one party insists on unscriptural or uncanonical terms of Communion, that party is the one guilty of schism.

The Papacy in demanding such by late decrees, is consequently in material schism everywhere.

72 ORGANISATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Its head

Jesus

Christ.

ORGANISATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (continued).

Cits Head.

ARTICLE III. THE ORGANISATION OF THE I The Apostolic College. CATHOLIC CHURCH. ] The Hierarchy.

{^Jurisdiction.

" CHRIST is THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH "

•As Militant, Expectant, and Triumphant, and forming one body, as making by a spiritual birth one family, as united in obedience in a kingdom, Christ is the Head.

As a temple composed of living stones, Christ is the rock on which it all rests and is the Central Stone that binds all together in unity with Himself.

The Church being a visible body requires a visible head, and as a divine body a Divine Head which is Christ.

Christ is visible to the different portions of the Church in different ways according to the capacities of the members to discern Him.

He is visible to the great portion of the Church in Glory, He is visible to the members of the Waiting Church, as they pass be fore Him for judgment. He is visible to the Church Militant under the veil of the Sacraments, whereby He hides the glory of His person.

The Church Militant is not a corporate body or entity by itself, and therefore does not require a representative head any more than the Church Expectant.

For its successful work it is not necessary that the Church should be under a pope.

The Church was to be a kingdom, but not like an earthly kingdom under a visible monarch, our Lord saying this shall not be so.

The papal organisation, after the fashion of an earthly monarchy, injures the spiritual character of the Church. It is the embodi ment of a carnal and worldly spirit. It is of the earth, earthy. It is the repetition of the Sin of Israel in desiring a king. It has led to the same evil result of division. The papacy is not a principle of unity, but has been the great source of division of Christendom.

The Church should be united in intercommunion and fellowship, in mutual subordination each to the other portion, in the love ^ and power of the Holy Ghost.

" BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS "

The Lord built His Church on twelve foundations, Himself being the underlying Rock on which they were laid. There were the twelve patriarchs, twelve tribes, twelve stones in the high priest's breastplate, twelve gates to the heavenly city.

The Apostles were called and commissioned by Christ as one body. "Go ye into all the world," and to them as one body was mis sion and jurisdiction given.

The Apostles were all on an equality one with another, and all were subordinate to the Apostolic College as a whole. Thus the Apostles send Peter and John to Samaria to confirm, and divide the spheres of jurisdiction of the Gentiles and Jews between S. Peter and S. Paul.

The While S. Peter is a rock on the foundation which is Christ, and

Apostolic J is the leader, foundation layer, who opens the kingdom to College. Jew and Gentile, has the keys, leads the sheep of the old dispen

sation, and the lambs of the new into the new pasture, he has no authority over the other Apostles, and none is given or claimed by him or recognised by the other Apostles.

ORGANISATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 73

ORGANISATION
OF THE	The
CATHOLIC -<	Apostolic
CHURCH (concluded).	College. (continued).

While to S. John is committed the care of the Blessed Mother, the type of the Church, and he is made the organ through which the Ascended Lord communicates with the Church on earth, yet neither S. John nor S. Peter have successors in offices which were strictly personal to themselves.

The fathers of the first six centuries when directly commenting on the words of our Lord to S. Peter do not state that he was to have a successor in any office; and there is no record in Scripture or history of his ever transferring any office to an other.

The theory of development explains but does not confirm the papacy. For the result shows it to be of the human not the divine spirit.

"As MY FATHER HATH SENT ME, EVEN so SEND I You; AND Lo, I

AM WITH YOU ALWAY EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD "

During His visible life our Lord only commissioned His Apostles. On Pentecost the whole Church was endowed with the Holy Spirit, and the Apostles consecrated and empowered for their work and office.

By the joint action of Christ and the Holy Ghost, out of the one complete Apostolate, three orders were developed by a gather ing into itself of persons sharing in different degrees in its spiritual powers.

The indwelling of Christ and the Holy Ghost in the Church was revealed by the calling and consecration of S. Paul.

Like the other Apostles he was called by Christ, then empowered by the Holy Ghost as they had been and then received into the Apostolic body.

There are no ordinations to the ministry recorded in Holy Scrip ture other than with Apostolic co-operation.

The three orders of deacons, presbyters, and a higher grade of angels of the churches, or now called bishops, are recorded in Scripture and certified by early history.

For fifteen hundred years the Christian Church, however divided, was under an apostolically descended Episcopal government, and two-thirds of all Christians are to-day so governed.

The hierarchy.

" LEST I SHOULD BUILD ON ANOTHER MAN'S FOUNDATIONS "

f Jurisdiction signifies the right to exercise one's office in a par ticular locality and over certain people.

Our Lord gave universal mission and jurisdiction to the Apos tolic college as a Solidarity. Each bishop as a joint partici pant, shares in this right, but is restrained for the sake of order, in its exercise by canon law.

When a see is vacant, jurisdiction flows back into the diocese, which through its chapter or otherwise, elects a bishop. The Jurisdiction. •< election is confirmed by the other dioceses and bishops or metropolitan. The diocese says, "We will have this man to rule over us." The other dioceses and bishops confirming, acknowledge this right as against themselves.

When a metropolitan see is vacant, the metropolitan jurisdic tion flows down into the comprovincials.

When the papacy is vacant, it goes back to the cardinal electors. The claim of the Pope to be the source of all jurisdiction, is not in conformity with ecclesiastical history or canon law.

AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

(Its Necessity. Its Usefulness. Its Source. How Preserved. Its relation to Holy Scripture. " HEAR THE CHURCH "

Christ having brought a religion for the salvation of men, it was nec essary that He should establish some means by which they with reasonable certainty should know what it was, and what they were to do.

Christ therefore established His Church for this purpose and gave to its officers authority to teach, to minister in His name, and pre serve by discipline the Society's organisation.

Seeing that humanity increases in knowledge, it is a necessity that "Its I Christ's teaching should be not only recorded in a book, but that

necessity. j there should be a living authority to interpret it and to answer the questions of the growing intelligence of mankind.

To maintain that Jesus Christ left His followers to grope their way without a living guide, left them to believe or not according to their own prepossessions and interpretations of Scripture, is to accuse Him of folly.

To have left His religion without the guardianship of such authority would have been to leave the simple faithful believers exposed to the despotic tyranny of intellectual scepticism.

" TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS I HAVE COMMANDED You "

Christ came not only to teach, but to save and elevate mankind. The work He "began to do," He continues through His Church.

The Church teaches. It proclaims the faith once delivered, interprets Holy Scripture, examines and decides all matters of faith and morals.

The Church also elevates. It brings to man the sacramental means of grace, by which he is transformed and made a child of God.

It makes laws for the regulation of the Church's worship, the fasts and feasts, the observance of matrimony, the restoration of peni tents.

It is a safe guide to all humble minds, a city of refuge for all sinners, a tower of strength to all the faithful.

It can dispense from laws of its own making, it can cast out those whose conduct is scandalous, or who are wilfully disobedient and unbelieving.

The Church saves. It perpetuates by its preaching the offer of salva tion. It pardons, in Christ's name, believing penitents. It min isters the helps and sacraments for the sanctification of the faithful.

The two sources of the Church's authority are Christ and the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Logos, the Word, the Truth, the Life, the Revelation of God to man. Revelation is complete in Him.

The Holy Spirit dwells in the Church to lead her into all the truth Christ revealed, and to enable her to protect it.

The office of the Holy Spirit is not to be separated from Christ. The Spirit does not dwell in the Church to make it the organ of new revelations, but to lead the Apostles into all truth: (1) by bringing to their remembrance all things the Lord had said, and (2) by enabling them to understand what before Pentecost they could not understand.

The Apostles so guided declared they had not shunned to "declare the whole counsel of God."

If an angel from heaven was to announce anything different, it was „. to be rejected. The faith as once given was to be preserved.

Its

usefulness.

Its

source.

THE CHURCH'S AUTHORITY

THE CHURCH'S AUTHORITY, How PRESERVED.

:in Her Office as Teacher. As Restorer of Man. As Protector of the Organisation.

THE

CHURCH'S

AUTHORITY.

Its

preservation as teacher of the faithful.

As

restorer.

As pro tector of order, by love and charity.

The preservation of her authority is bound up with her existence, and that, Christ has promised, should never fail.

As teacher — God protects the Church in her office in two ways : by the aid of His inspiring grace and by His Providence.

By enlightening the bishops in council by the Holy Spirit, by en abling them to discern heresies and frame definitions required to guard the faith.

The new definition dissipates the fog of error and enables the faith ful to see and hold clearly what was of faith, and so Christ opens the mouth of His Church to speak.

But seeing that councils are composed of men, who may be de ceived as by forged documents, or compelled to act under duress, or otherwise led astray, God protects His Church by His Provi dence, by laying His Hand on her mouth.

God allows divisions to take place and so protects the Church by not permitting her to speak with Ecumenical authority, when she might go amiss.

But as each portion of sundered Christendom holds the faith of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the common consent of un divided Christendom, it proclaims with authority the faith.

It is a living voice sounding through each part of the Church, say ing, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

This voice is spoken to those within the spiritual body and who have within themselves the light of the Spirit, and who by its light discern the truth, and by acting on it come to know it ex perimentally.

The reconstructing power of the Church is given through her ministrations and Sacraments.

Their preservation depends upon the existence of an authorised priesthood through which as His agent Jesus Christ acts.

The Sacerdotal office in the Episcopate and presbytery has been carefully preserved in the Church, and nowhere more carefully than in the Anglican Communion. The proof is of the double character of historical evidence and the Church's ordinal, and also of the sacramental results.

The Eastern Orthodox, the Roman, and the Anglican are all pos sessed of a valid priesthood.

It is by the subordination of the laity to their pastors.

Of the pastors to their bishops.

Of the bishops to each other in their councils.

Of all national and provincial councils to the Ecumenical.

Of all bishops to the Solidarity of the Episcopate and the general

mind and consent, and by recognition of the Canon Law, and

especially by divine grace and charity, is the Church's order

preserved. As churchmen our allegiance is primarily due to the whole Church

which Christ made, and not to any one of the divisions made

more or less by the sin of man. It is by the pride of national spirit, by fostered ignorance of other

portions of the Church, by inherited corrupting prejudices, by

lack of humility and love that Christendom is kept divided.

76

AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH

THE CHURCH IN RELATION TO HOLY SCRIPTURE, J * f m lc^1'

AND OF HOLY SCRIPTURE TO THE CHURCH.

\^As its Interpreter.

The Church separates her writings into two classes and one she calls

her Holy Scriptures. She collects the various books and decides what ones shall be put in

that category. She accepts the Old Testament and the writings that form the New

as agreed at the Council of Carthage. It matters not by whom they were originally written or amended,

the selection by the Church, acting under the guidance of the Holy

Ghost, collates them together. These writings though written by many persons, largely independent

of one another, and through many centuries, nevertheless form one

whole, through which a common purpose runs setting forth Christ

and His Church. The typical meaning which pervades it in an orderly manner of which

the writers were unconscious, proves that there was a Mind engaged

in the composition other than the writers' own. The Church declares the work to be the Word of God, having the

Holy Spirit for its Author in a way, as He is not the Author of any

other book.

rThe Scriptures are a Revelation of God. His dealings with man and man's duties to God.

They are written or compiled by men inspired so to do. Inspiration does not coerce the human element or make it a mere recording mechanical instrument.

Revelation is an impression made by God, of a truth or fact not naturally knowable, upon a human mind. Inspiration is the in fusion of an intellectual light given to discriminate revelation from other operations either in one's own mind or other's, and to present the revealed truth in the most useful manner.

God sometimes uses the allowed forgetfulness or negligence of a writer, as in the non-recording of the genealogy of Melchisedek, to set forth a divine truth.

The Inspiration is given equally to all composers of Holy Scripture, therefore it is inspired in all its parts.

It does not insure the inerrancy of the material details but only their inerrancy in regard to the facts or truths revealed or their appli cation.

Of the Scriptures, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit dwelling in the Church is the Interpreter.

The Holy Spirit best knows the truths He intended to convey. It is therefore only by those dwelling within the Church, which is the sphere of divine illumination, that the Scriptures can be rightly understood.

Human learning, however great outside the Body of Christ, not be ing moulded by its traditions or enlightened by its sacraments, is of little worth in the exposition of its Scripture, not having the necessary predispositions.

The Church has followed the example of Christ, the Evangelists, and Apostles in their mode of interpreting the Old Testament.

Her rule of interpretation has been : that what the Holy Spirit enables the Church to read out of Holy Scripture that the Holy Spirit put into it to be so understood.

	"As
	guardian of Holy Scripture.
AUTHORITY
OF THE
CHURCH
IN RELA- •< TION TO HOLY SCRIPTURE.	As an inspired •< revelation.
	As the
	interpreter •< of it.

77

THE CHURCH AND THE HOLY SCRIPTURES HAVE A MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP

	"The
	relation
	of the
	Holy Scriptures to the
	Church.
THE
AUTHORITY
OF THE
CHURCH IN .> CONNECTION
WITH HOLY	'
SCRIPTURE.
	And to individuals.

(In the order of time the Church exists before her Scriptures, but the two are practically united.

The Holy Scripture is the Word written. The Church is the Word in action.

The Church certifies the Canon of Holy Scripture, of what it con sists, and how it is to be interpreted.

The Church proclaims the message of salvation to those without, and offers the evidence of her own experience and life to the validity of her message.

The Church teaches those within her who have the light of divine faith and are able by that light to see and understand the faith objectively presented in its fulness to them.

The Holy Scriptures guide and protect the Church in this her pro phetical office.

The Holy Scriptures are a chart, which the Church studies and by which she directs and controls herself. They are a mirror in which she sees the deposit of the faith and arms herself to defend it. They are a constitutional protection against the human element within her.

So the Church cannot teach any doctrine as of faith that is not explicitly or implicitly contained in Holy Scripture.

In the proof of doctrine, the Church construes the written word together, as one whole and consistent revelation of God's mind. It shuns the error of heretics who base their teachings on isolated passages or texts.

As the Church is God's authorised teacher the faithful listen first to her. She teaches, the Bible corroborates her teaching.

As printing was not invented for fourteen hundred years after Christ it is obvious that the Lord did not intend that persons were to learn what the Christian religion was by an individual and independent study of its contents.

It is a wrong use of the Bible for the individual to expect that every doctrine can be proved from Scripture by a logical process that will exclude its opposite. This is the manner of heretics.

The Holy Scriptures furnish the faithful with corroborative evi dence. They are seen to be reasonably patent of such an inter pretation as to be in accord with what the Church teaches.

The Church has both her inherited traditions and the Holy Spirit to guide and protect her. The individual who humbly receives and lives and acts according to her teaching, becomes illuminated with heavenly light and not only believes but knows, and not only knows but possesses, the truth. God comes to dwell with him and he with God.

It is by the study of the Holy Scriptures, in the Church and under her guidance that the man of God becomes thoroughly furnished to all good works.

78

THE FUTURE LIFE

C For Each Individual. CHAPTER VI. THE FUTURE LIFE < For Humanity.

\^Its Nature and Duration,

Cits Certainty. ARTICLE I. THE FUTURE LIFE OF EVERY MAN. < The Present Life.

\^ The Particular Judgment.

	^Its certainty.
	The
	present •< life
THE
FUTURE
LIFE.
CONCERN
ING THE
INDIVIDUAL.
	The
-	particular judgment.

/'The soul of man made in the image of God is immortal.

Its immortality has been philosophically defended from the indivisi ble nature of the soul. As it cannot be divided, it cannot perish.

Religion teaches that while God can annihilate man, He cannot take from him what is essential to his nature and leave him man. He is therefore immortal.

This belief had been witnessed by the universal desire and belief of mankind. Man shrinks from annihilation.

What belongs to the nature of man's soul, like a function of the body, must have its gratification and fulfilment.

In the presence of so much successful unrighteousness and unjust suffering, disbelief in immortality is immoral, it accuses God of folly.

It must be a personal immortality, for an impersonal immortality is only another name for annihilation. Man as such lives forever.

This truth is revealed in God's Word. It runs through the Bible. It is found in the great poem of Job, is set forth in the mysteries of Enoch's and Elijah's translations, is taught explicitly by David and Isaiah, became the common belief of the Jews, was taught by ^ Jesus Christ.

If there is a future life the present one is temporary. In relation to the future it must be a time of preparation.

As endowed with a power of choice it remains with man what he will make of it.

As a moral being he is responsible for the use he makes of its oppor tunities and the life he leads.

The good God has extended to him in Jesus Christ the offer of salva tion and a supernatural elevation of being in union with God in eternal bliss.

He will be judged according to his light, the grace received, his en vironment, as to his acceptance or rejection of the Divine offer.

The good heathen will be a law unto themselves and Christ may reach them in some way as they individually come before Him, after death, while those living in Christian lands will have no excuse.

After death comes the individual judgment. It is not a judgment after the manner of men.

It is not like the heathen conception, a weighing of a man's good and evil actions, and according to their preponderance receiving reward or condemnation.

Man will not be judged by any standards of his own making or by the world's judgment of greatness or goodness.

Nor can man by any natural efforts or goodness attain to a super natural end.

Neither has God set up a standard of holiness to which all men to be saved must attain.

THE FUTURE LIFE

79

The one test of this judgment is whether the individual is united to Christ and Christ's life is in him. If so he will attain the end offered hi Christ, — if not, he will miss it.

The

particular judgment (continued).

If he miss it, considering that God has Himself come and pleaded and died for men, whose fault will it be ?

Men go out of life either purified from self, holy and in grace, or imper fect, or wilfully reprobate.

The first pass into heavenly glory. The second class must endure the enlightening and purificative discipline of God; the third as having lost the proffered end in Christ, await the final judgment and their eternal loss.

THE
FUTURE
LIFE
(con tinued).
	The
	preparatory •" w state.

'In heaven persons do not live separate individual lives but are members of the Christ.

In the state of bliss, the Church as one body, loves God with supreme love and obeys Him with absolute obedience.

In order to attain to this state it is necessary that each individual should be so filled with divine love as to love God supremely and for Himself and all in God.

No soul can be in heaven and form part of the holy body in whom there is any remains of self-love. The soul must be emptied of self, per fectly clarified and filled with charity.

There can be no murmuring, no complaining, no criticising, no shrink ing from any task, no unwillingness to work under others, no gossip ing, no disliking of any.

Love must reign absolutely and in all and for all that God may work through all.

It is for this end that the soul passes through a state of purification. In it, it sees itself, as never before, what it has done and what it has not done. It has the happiness of knowing that it is saved but the pain of knowing what it is and what it has to become.

It is free from the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but the old nature has to be put to death. As it is not tempted it cannot by resisting gain aught. The soul must pray and wait on God's mercy and remedial processes.

Our Lord implies there is such a state when He said concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost, "It shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come." And of certain souls detained, " Thou shalt not go out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." The statement in I Cor. iii. 13-15 is held by many of the Fathers as revealing some future purification for the righteous.

It has ever been the Church's custom to pray for those detained, es pecially at the Sacrifice.

The prayers of the Church Militant have a special value, for its members have an advantage of those at rest and even over the angels that now they can serve God by deeds and alms that cost them something.

8o THE FUTURE LIFE CONCERNING HUMANITY

{The Mission of Humanity. Its Earthly End. The Second Advent of Christ.

	"The
	mission of •<
	humanity.
THE FUTURE LIFE CONCERNING	The earthly •< end.
HUMANITY.
	>•• The
	second coming of ^Christ.

'Humanity was not designed to reach its end on earth. It was not to arrive at its perfection here.

God created humanity that out of the children of men He might create a kingdom formed of the children of God.

The civilisation that has accompanied Christianity is only a sub ordinate testimony of its value, not its end.

The present world, its nations, its glories, its schemes are destined to perish.

Science declares that in time the world must die and become, if it exist, but a wandering graveyard.

The new development will be ushered in by the coming of our Lord . and Saviour Jesus Christ.

"When He will come is not revealed.

Some signs will be the increasing antagonism of the world. The sign of the Cross, i.e., that of persecution, will be seen.

There will a second Beast arise, or a concert of nations represent ing modern thought and civilisation. It will have a like power to that of the first Beast, or the old Roman Empire.

There will be a great increase of scientific knowledge, the doing of mighty marvels, the bringing down of fire or electricity from heaven. The world will go wondering after the Beast and wor shipping it.

Its power will be such that worldly success will be conditioned on thinking as the Beast thinks and doing its behests. Its mark must be on the forehead and hand of its subjects.

There will be the rise of false religions and more especially a per version of Christianity. The final antichrist will be a counter feit Christ.

There will be a denial of Christ's deity and the facts of the Creeds, together with a profound zeal for humanity and philanthropy, and many will be deceived.

The heavenly powers of the Church will be shaken, but the faithful will rejoice, knowing their Redeemer draweth nigh.

The second coming will be the unveiling of Jesus Christ. When He ascended, a cloud received Him.

He will come in glory with His angels, and saints. The whole heavens will be full of them.

It will be the awarded reparation to our Lord for the indignities and cruelties and neglects He suffered.

His coming will be the overthrow of the evil world and bring con fusion on His enemies. It will be a great reversal of human judgments.

Then will be given the rewards of the faithful. God who saves us gratuitously by His merits, rewards the good deeds done by His w grace.

NATURE OF THE FUTURE LIFE

81

	^Its nature
	as eternal „.
	life for
	the just.
	As the
NATURE AND	triumph of •< goodness.
DURATION
OF THE
FUTURE
LIFE.
	The
	duration
	of the
	^•new epoch.

f For the Just. ARTICLE III. NATURE AND DURATION I A „ ,, „, . ,

,-, •< As God s 1 numph.

OF THE FUTURE LIFE. I T. r. , r. *7-

\^Its Eternal Duration.

r Reason indicates the existence of a future life. Revelation declares its nature for the wicked and the just.

For the just it is the gift of Eternal Life in Jesus Christ. Immor tality belongs to the nature of man. Eternal Life is a gift offered by Jesus Christ.

Immortality denotes an endless existence. Eternal Life is a special union with God.

There are three modes of man's union with God: by power, grace, and glory. By the last union man is upheld in perfect and unswerving virtue and so in bliss.

As Christ redeemed man's whole nature, man's body risen, spirit- .. ualised, glorified, will reign with its soul and spirit in glory.

'God's purpose in creation was that it should mirror His Goodness, beauty, and love.

As perfected in the Eternal Life it does this. It forms one glorious body, from which all evil, sin, pain, sorrow, are banished, and where God is all and in all

Goodness must triumph. God will reign absolutely. Sin will be ren dered impossible.

It is rendered impossible for the just by their special union with God. It is impossible for the lost, for the day of grace being over, they can no longer reject or disobey it, and therefore cannot sin.

'The condition of man becomes forever fixed, either in the union in Christ with God in glory, or in the eternal loss.

If the one state is not fixed and eternal, neither can the other be ; and the law which determines one, determines the other.

Those who attain to this union with God will be secure in their obe dience and sinlessness and so eternally happy. They will follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth.

Those who have wilfully missed this union will be forever unable to attain it, for the period of probation, of choice, and of proffered grace is over. The door is shut.

It is true that they cannot sin any more, for all grace is withdrawn from them and without the aid of grace they neither have any desire to repent nor can they do so.

They can no more repent without the aid of grace than an animal could breathe in an exhausted receiver.

They cannot annihilate themselves, for to annihilate is as great an act of deity as to create.

The lost therefore cannot either destroy themselves or repent; nor could God consistently allow the latter.

For if God is bound whenever his creature repents to forgive him, then man conquers God, and God would cease to reign. 6

PART TWO THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE AID, AND THE MEANS OF GRACE

MAN RESTORED BY JESUS CHRIST

85

PART II

CATHOLIC DOCTRINE

PART II. MAN RE STORED AND TRANSFORMED BY JESUS CHRIST, REDEEMER AND SECOND ADAM.

TRANSITION

Unable by himself to attain a supernatural end, man needs for his deliverance and transformation

DIVINE HELP

'The supernatural in general.

Its kinds and source.

Grace, uncreated and created.

The necessity of grace.

The different kinds of grace.

Grace in relation to freedom.

Distribution of grace. <b"

Predestination. >. Salvation and reward.

Means of

restoration.

Grace.

Received

through

sacraments.

Nature of the sacraments in general. <f<£ Divine institution of the sacraments. Ministration of them. Purposes of their institution. Harmony of the sacraments with each other. Their efficacy dependent on man's co-operation. The Sacrament of Baptism. Its nature, administration, effects. Confirmation, — its origin, efficacy. I". The " sevenfold gifts " ; recipients.

Penance, — its institution, minister, effect, needed dis positions.

Holy orders; founder; ministerial character; apostolic ex tension; three orders.

Holy matrimony; sacramental character; and indissolu- bility.

Unction, — origin, nature, minister, effect.

Holy Eucharist, a sacrifice and sacrament. Its pre-eminence, the Real Presence, relation to Calvary, and the heavenly presentation.

Obtained .by prayer.

fits natural basis; necessity; the command. < Example of Christ; conditions of acceptable prayer; ^ swers to prayer; objections by unbelievers.

an-

86 TRANSITION FROM FIRST TO SECOND PART

TRANSITION OF THE FIRST

TO THE

SECOND PART.

TRANSITION FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND PART

{The Powerlessness of Man to save or Reconstruct Himself. The Necessity of Divine Help.

Man is powerless to attain with certainty to the truths which con cern the Being of God and his relation to Him.

He is powerless because of the limitations of his nature and be cause it has been enfeebled by sin.

Supernatural and divine truths being thus above his natural capacity, he needs both that they be revealed to him and that an interior light should be given whereby he may understand them.

If, however, truth was only what man needed, God could have made it known to man through superior beings or angels.

It is necessary in order that truth be effective that it be spoken by those who experimentally know our nature, and it be embodied in an example. And angels could do neither, and so it was given us in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

If, however, an Example only was needed, God need not have humbled Himself to be born of a Virgin, but might have taken a nature like ours from the dust of the earth, and in it given us in word and example the ideal.

As, however, man had sinned, something more than an example was needed in an atonement for his sin. Therefore God enters into the race He comes to save and becomes identified with it, being born of the Blessed Virgin.

As being one of the race He can represent and make an atonement for it and so do what man by and for himself cannot do.

'The natural power- lessness of man.

Christ

his

redeemer

and

restorer.

Man's need of .conversion.

If, however, reconciliation was all that man needed, then when our Lord had accomplished that work on the Cross, there would have been no need in the Divine economy why the nature as sumed for that purpose should not be laid aside.

Man needing not reconciliation only, but restoration and eleva tion, God not only took on Himself our nature, but never put it off. He wears it now and will through all eternity.

For it is by union with His Humanity, our nature is to be restored, transformed, made partakers with the Divine Nature, and up-

. • held through all eternity in the Blessed Vision of God.

Because man having turned away from God needs to be turned back to Him;

because his corrupt inclinations are more potent than the natural strength of his will;

because he is so ready to delude himself concerning the sovereignty of God's claims and the nature of his duties;

because he prefers his present gratification and pleasing to his true happiness found in the service of God;

because until he is convicted of the greatness of his sin and his per sonal guilt, and repents, calling on Christ for mercy and accept ance, he remains in his unreconciled sinful state and will surely perish.

MEANS OF REMOVAL

87

MAN'S SIN AND SINFULNESS REMOVED BY JESUS CHRIST, REDEEMER AND LIFE-GIVER

{As Supernatural. By aid of Grace. TL O 1 fie sacraments. Prayer.

CHAPTER I

Humanity reconciled to God by the Cross needs for its attainment to the proffered supernatural end, a Divine supernatural aid.

ARTICLE I. THE SUPERNATURAL IN GENERAL. ITS KINDS AND SOURCE

'The supernatural is not the supersensible. The soul is supersensi ble, but is not therefore supernatural.

Nor does it apply to things created immediately by God, for the angels are so created but are not classed as supernatural.

Nor is it expressed by the distinction between the finite and the in finite, the "created and the uncreated," for the supernatural can exist in created human beings by way of elevation above nature.

The supernatural is something nature cannot claim nor produce. It is not something due to it. It is in its essence a gift. .

God alone is its author. It is a divine gift to man.

Man's nature is such that it is capable of receiving a supernatural or added gift.

By the aid of grace, i.e., a divine aid, he has an "obediential " power of corresponding with it.

The supernatural gift offered him is salvation, reconstruction, and an elevation of nature by and through Jesus Christ.

By this gift human nature becomes restored and elevated to the par ticipation of a higher nature in that of the Incarnate God.

It becomes thereby a partaker of the divine nature and an adopted son of God.

'The supernatural proper differs from the miraculous, for in the supernatural, nature is neither cause nor effect.

In the conversion of a sinner the cause that produces and the grace produced are both supernatural.

This principle applies to the other ministrations of grace. The co operation of man's obediential power does not destroy the super natural character of the action.

In a miracle like the restoration to life, or opening of the eyes of the blind, a supernatural power is exercised but the effect is natural, for life and sight are properties belonging to man.

	^The super natural in -<
	general.
MEANS
OF -<
REMOVAL.
	It differs
	from a -<
	^miracle.

88

MEANS OF REMOVAL

'The supernatural may be considered as. absolute and relative.

The absolute elevates nature above itself to a new and special union with God.

Man is united to God in three ways, by nature, grace, and glory.

The source of the last is to be found in the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in Christ.

This union is one in person. The two natures being united in one personality. The human nature of Christ being thereby admitted to a unity of Being with God.

By a finally perfected union with the humanity of Christ man attains to the Beatific Vision, or a union with God in glory.

This union differs from the hypostatic union, not being in person. But the creature is so assimilated to the Divine Life as to know and love God as an immediate object of possession and enjoyment.

This union with Himself in glory is the highest and best gift God can bestow on His child, for it is the gift of Himself.

The means God has provided for obtaining this elevation of being is union with the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

He is the "Way " or bridge between the finite and infinite, His divine nature being one with God, by His Humanity, He being one with us.

In Him we pass into a new relation with God and are, as it were, upheld in Christ to know and love Him.

This Beatific Vision and its necessary union with Christ being things supernatural, require (since nature can only attain by its own powers that which is natural) supernatural aids.

These means are the convicting, converting, justifying, sanctifying agencies, which result in a condition preparatory to and finally capable of attaining to the light and joy of God's revelation of Himself.

'This participation of a lower nature in the perfections of a higher has led to the adoption of the term "supernature."

The degree of participation is now experimentally made known by grace. What it will be hereafter in glory lies beyond our present conceptions.

Even now we are made partakers of the divine nature and are .. adopted sons of God.

The relatively supernatural differs from the absolute in that it brings no new life or elevation of being, but helps to keep human nature free from sin and aids it.

Between the natural and supernatural there is a class of gifts called "preternatural." They do not unite to God nor affect the moral nature.

They are gifts alongside of nature, such as would be freedom from _ pain or death, or the gifts pertaining to our glorified bodies.

	The super natural.
	Its kinds
	and source.
	As
	absolute.
	>• Obtainable
	in Christ.
MEANS
OF •<
REMOVAL
(continued).	•
	Our
	supernature.
	The
	relative
	super natural -<
	and
	preter- ^natural.

GRACE

ARTICLE II. GRACE AS UNCREATED AND CREATED

In itself as un created.

In all the works external to the Blessed Trinity all co-operate.

Holy Scripture, however, ascribes certain names, attributes, and opera tions to particular persons. This is known as the doctrine of "Ap propriations."

Thus the Father is spoken of as Creator, the Son as Wisdom, the Holy Ghost as Sanctifier.

The assignment of Power, Wisdom, and Goodness to any one person does not exclude it from the others.

But there is a special relationship of the person to the attribute which makes him its fitting representative. He is the proximate agent of the action of God and the principle in the creation of its operation.

Holy Ghost as sanctifying and uniting is the Uncreated Grace.

GRACE.

The

temporal

and

personal

mission.

Holy Scripture also speaks of the temporal mission of the Divine Persons.

The perfect equality existing in the Blessed Trinity excludes the notion of authority ; and the perfect coherence excludes that of separation.

There are two manners of divine missions, the visible, as in the Incarna tion, and the invisible, by the indwelling of the Son and Holy Spirit in man.

The indwelling is not by the bestowal of a gift or principle only but by a presence of God in us.

The union of the creature with God is not by the communication of the divine substance, but, as Holy Scripture describes it, a most intimate indwelling whereby the soul becomes a spiritual temple.

And where the Holy Spirit is, there too must the Father and the Son be. "We will come unto him and make our abode with him."

The personal mission implies thus a bestowal of the divine persons to the soul in a unique and supernatural manner.

Extending God's own life in the soul.

This gift of God is by way of manifesting His own life. It gives in man a representation of it. It is subject to created conditions, as to its extension.

Each of these persons entering and taking possession of the soul as a spiritual temple does so in his own peculiar way and manner.

The Son enters as the Image and Brightness of the Glory of the Father, that the soul may be filled with the illumination of faith and know and possess God. In thy Light we see Light.

The Holy Spirit, the love that binds the Father and the Son together, enters that the soul, as the adopted daughter of the Father and the bride of the Son, may be joined in love to God, and in the love and with the love of God, love God.

The two internal operations in God of knowing and loving are thus . extended in us.

9°

GRACE IN ITSELF

CHAPTER II

fin Itself. Cln Relation to the Will.

GRACE. •< Its Necessity. < Its Distribution. {^Different Kinds. {^Predestination.

ARTICLE I. GRACE AS CREATED. ITS PURPOSE. RELATION TO MAN

Grace as a divine aid differing from the gift of the Holy Spirit is called "created" grace.

It is not created out of nothing. It is not one of those substances which suppose nothing pre-existing on which their existence depends.

Without man it would not exist, for it is the aid given his obediential faculty to correspond with God.

It has its source in the goodness of God, having, as the word grace im plies, a favour towards an individual.

God's favour, however, differs from man's good will. Man's good im pulses may and often do pass away, or he may be unable to fulfil them. God as an Almighty Being, is always able, — and as a moral being is always bound to perfect His intentions in action.

God's favour towards man is therefore always coupled with a gift. And in relation to his soul, it is a gift of grace.

"Created grace " is thus a movement of God's goodness towards the soul conveying the gift of divine aid.

A different estimate is made of man's original condition according as we accept the Thomist or the Scotist view of the Incarnation.

If God came to restore man to a state of perfection which he had lost, then what He now does, it is argued, will reveal to us what man was.

As our union with God and elevation to the Beatific Vision is wrought by union with the Incarnate God and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost who comes from Him into us, welding us together, until the Incarna tion this condition was not possible.

God did not then come merely to restore man to a primitive condition, but to advance him to a much higher one.

We may for the sake of discriminating between nature and grace, con template human nature abstractly under five different aspects.

First, as a natural being upheld by God's immanence in creation and in a state of innocence.

Secondly, as a human being consisting of body, soul, and spirit, having by the creative action all that belongs to the integrity of his nature, be ing in the Image of God and immortal. If exempted from death it would be called a preternatural gift.

Thirdly, as a being having an end obtainable by obedience through the aid of a gift of created grace, which would help preserve in harmonious subordination man's triple nature, bind him to God in holiness, and make him in His likeness.

Fourthly, as a sinful or fallen being, who had by disobedience lost the gift of grace, and so become spiritually dead, and unable by himself to obtain the celestial end designed for him.

Fifthly, as a being reconciled and recreated in the Incarnate one, united to Him by the Holy Spirit, made an adopted Son of God, a partaker of the divine nature, and capable of attaining the future union with „ God in Glory.

	" Grace
	as t created.
GRACE IN < ITSELF.	The purpose.
	Its rela tion to different •* human ^states.

NECESSITY OF GRACE

91

{As Medicinal. Its Application. Its Catholic Sense.

NECESSITY

OF

GRACE.

"Needed as medicinal to cure man's disorders.

In its application. <

Its

Catholic

sense.

Man, who in a state of innocence and integrity could not without the help of God attain a supernatural end, can much less do so in his present sinful and disordered condition.

His impuissance to attain it is radical and absolute. For experience shows that each portion of his being rebels against that which is over it. The body against the soul, the soul against the spirit, and spirit against God.

In each there is a root of evil tendency. Sensuality in the body, covetousness in the soul, pride in the spirit.

The body, unwilling to obey the dictates of the understanding and will, drags the soul down into bestiality. The soul governing itself by its own reasonings, rejects the guidance of its spiritual nature and falls into the slavery of unbelief. The spirit through pride rebels against God, and becomes the servant of the devil.

This disorder has been noticed by heathens, has been manifested in human history, is declared in Holy Scripture.

should be given him and should act on all por tions of his nature.

in enlightening his in- should forecome him J telligence.

in touching his heart.

in soliciting his will.

In consequence man has need that grace

should accompany him, sustain him, follow him,

in his combat with evil, in his practice of virtue, in all the actions of his life.

It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that he be converted, surrender himself wholly to Christ, to believe what Christ says because He says it, and, melted by penitence, to be remoulded by grace in Him.

The radical impuissance of man and the absolute necessity of medic inal grace extends only to salvation, and salutary actions.

Man is able without grace to perform acts which are in themselves moral and virtuous.

They may, however, be performed from bad, evil, wicked or selfish motives, in which case they are sinful.

Man may rulelhis life by a moral law, but if he leaves God out of ac count, his life is an immoral one, for he is in rebellion against God.

Man may perform, before being justified, good acts inspired by pre- venient grace ; all such acts being done by divine aid, are part of the preparatory process of justification and are pleasing to God.

But without the aid of grace man can neither believe the faith, nor avoid all mortal sins, nor possess the theological virtues, nor attain to union with Christ.

With it he can become savingly united to Christ and do works which will attain a heavenly reward.

KINDS OF GRACE

f" Actual — transient and pre- ARTICLE III. THE DIFFERENT KINDS J paratory.

OF GRACE. | Habitual — justifying and

^ permanent.

God gives man prevenient aid. He forecomes us in every good thought. He lightens every man that cometh into the world. He calls all men to receive Him. Behold I stand at the door and knock.

This grace is the aid God gives, moving the soul to repentance, to fulfil his duties.

It is compatible with a state of mortal sin, because without its aid the sinner could not get out of this state.

It is the Good Shepherd grace that seeks for the lost, cares for the wounded, inspires the faithful to good works.

It is the grace of light, or Illuminating Grace, when ad dressed to the intellect.

The grace of strength, or Aspirative Grace when empower ing the will.

Prevenient Grace when it precedes the will's co-operation.

"Concomitant," when it accompanies it.

"Subsequent," when it renders the action of the will per severing.

"Sacramental," as communicating the grace the sacrament signifies.

"Efficacious," as effecting that to which it is sent.

"Sufficient," the good God giving to every man all the help his salvation requires.

"Victorious," when the will by the aid of prevenient grace surrenders.

To arrive at the faith in revealed truth. Reason may be a torch-bearer, but only in Thy light given by prevenient grace, can we see the truth.

To make the faith our possession and be possessed by it, we must by sacramental grace be incorporated into the Church and be living members of it.

To arrive from belief to knowledge and possession there must be not only actual but habitual grace.

It is actual grace that renders supernatural all good works and natural virtue.

By actual grace all good works are performed. By it Be- zaleel and Aholiab designed the adornments of the Taber nacle, and prophets spoke and wrote the Holy Scriptures.

he glory of the Christian state. Before Christ came all that was given to fallen humanity was actual grace. It had not the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, because before the sinless humanity of Christ came the Holy Spirit could not dwell in man. The dove found

, But God gave by actual grace gifts and aids to man. Actual grace is like the wind which acts on man's nature, habitual grace is like a power which inhabits or dwells within man. One is like the wind which comes and dies away, the other is like the steam power within the ship.

It is the Good Samaritan Grace that not only rescues, but heals, pouring the oil and wine into the wounds, placing the man on the humanity of Christ, and housing him in the Inn of the Church.

	'is called
	by different -<
	names.
	r Actual
	grace
		is indis
		pensable for man, for faith
KINDS		and good ^works.
OF -<
GRACE.
		Habitual grao
		that was gn
		of the indw«
		of Christ ca
		no rest for i
	Habitual grace.	Actual grac< is like a po

GRACE AND THE HUMAN WILL

C Respective power of Grace ARTICLE IV. GRACE IN ITS RELATIONS < and of the Witt.

TO FREEDOM. {^Results of their Activity.

f The Designs of God. INFLUENCE OF GRACE ON THE WILL. -< Grace and Free Will.

^ Their Reciprocal Action.

"God's designs in the concession of grace.

"God, having designed a kingdom in which He shall be served and loved voluntarily by beings endowed with free will, in giving of grace, respects the liberty He has given man.

Grace is thus an offered aid capable of being freely accepted and not an influence that obliges man to submit in spite of himself.

		Grace, with the co-operation of the will, raises man to a high per
		fection and a supernatural union with God.
		Without the help of grace, man is powerless to attain to righteous
		ness and the offered elevation of being in glory.
		Able by the use of his will to resist grace, he preserves the sad
		faculty of being powerful against God.
		God gives to all men prevenient and sufficient grace, by aid of which
		every man may correspond to all the other needed gifts and graces
		brought to him.
§ 1.	Grace	Thus there are these two powers that necessarily need each other's
THE	and free •*	aid and in whose union lies strength.
RELATIVE	will.	In one sense the human will is stronger than grace, because it can
POWERS ^ •<		reject it, for grace does not paralyse the determinations of the will.
OF GRACE AND OF		But when aided by the incipient grace the will has surrendered itself
THE HUMAN		to the fuller operations of grace, and the will of man has become
WILL.		one with the will of God, then grace reigns in the soul. Then
		grace is victorious and the king's heart is in the hand of the
		Lord, He turneth it whithersoever He will.
		The need of prevenient grace guards the sovereignty of God. God,
		moving the will to action freely according to its nature, respects
		the liberty of man.
		Con the truths it must believe ; 'Grace
		enlightens J tne duties it must perform ;
		the m- fne Sacraments it must use ;
		tellect
		Lthe way to make them profitable.
	Action	{to faith in the revealed truths;
	of the -< one on	to the practices of the Christian life; r
	.the other.	to a following of the example of Christ;
	to a life of devotion and consecration.

can either respond to grace, greatly desiring its in- The crease, finding its joy in its communion with God,

human -s or by stifling good impulses, quenching the spirit,

-will and becoming more and more hardened, spiritually

perishes.

94 FREE WILL UNDER INFLUENCE OF GRACE

DIVERSE RESULTS OF THE ACTIVITY OF THE f Responsiveness. WILL UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GRACE. "\Resistance.

Whether the human will responds to or resists the action of grace, it acts always in the fulness of its liberty. It acts with the consciousness of being able to act otherwise, even in a manner utterly opposed to it.

That is why the agreement or opposition of Grace and the will result in the following consequences :

'produces an increase of actual grace; disposes to the reception of sanctifying grace, when one does not yet

possess it; increases the sanctifying grace in those who do possess it.

	rThe		ra growth of virtues and meritorious actions, perse
	response _« .!„		verance and exemption from mortal sin, final per
	oi the MI *. ^	produces	severance, and the grace of a death holy and precious
	will to	in them	before God.
	the action		Eternal Glory, which is the definite reward of fidelity
	of grace		and grace.
		It realises more fully and vividly the majestic mysteries of the
		Catholic faith. Develops in souls the fruit of Christ's redemption,
		and a spiritual union with Him.
§£>		It seconds and finishes by leading souls to glory, the merciful designs
2.		- of God for mankind.
DIVERSE
RESULTS
OF THE		'thwarts the designs of God for mankind, and often ruins them en
FREE AC		tirely in souls;
TIVITY OF <		diminishes or renders void for themselves the fruit of Christ's re
THE WILL		demption ;
TINDER THE		leaves their souls more or less in their natural weakness;
INFLUENCE		dries up the source of many other graces;
OF GRACE.		Cio the conversion of the sinner,
		, P < to the perseverance of the just,
		ODSltlClG i • ' 1 1 • "_i l^to his growth m virtue;
		finishes by quenching the spirit and bidding God depart.
	The		'of the uselessness of life or of its wrong use;
	resistance		of the hardening of the heart which stiffens itself
	of the	. ,	against God as did Pharaoh;
	will to	is tne •<	of the blinding of the spirit which refuses the light ;
	the action	source	of perseverance and of growth in evil;
	rvf n T»Q r*f*		of final impenitence and of death in sin;
v-v" &"*"		of eternal damnation.

The reality of this complete liberty of the will in deciding for itself — under the action of grace, and of the diverse results which

are the conse quence of it, are established :

1st, by the oracle of Holy Scripture, and all the monu ments of tradition;

2d, by the teaching and the constant belief of the Catholic Church;

3d, by the daily experience of the just and of sinners.

DISTRIBUTION OF GRACE

( Gratidtousness and Universality. ARTICLE V. DISTRIBUTION OF GRACE. -< Inequality and Difference.

{^Means of Communication and Corollary.

DISTRIBU TION OF GRACE.

Gratuitous- ness and universality of grace.

Inequality and difference in the dis tribution.

Means of communica tion and .corollary

Grace is a gift essentially gratuitous

Actual grace is given to all,

Tthat God owes to no one;

J that God gives to whom it seems good to Him; ] that God distributes as He pleases; otherwise ^ it would not be a grace.

1st, because God sincerely wishes the salvation of all, and that all may come

univer- I to the knowledge of the truth.

sally, | 2d, because Jesus Christ dies for all, and

that no one is excluded from the benefit of the redemption.

unequally, because God is the Master of His various gifts; and divides to every man severally as He will.

sufficiently, even for those who receive it less abundantly.

All may have sufficient to secure their salvation.

The number of divine aids spread over the whole life are generally composed of graces.

Of all graces

Grace is communi cated to us,

From which it follows : —

Ordinary, that God refuses to no one;

extraordinary, that God grants to whom He pleases ;

absolute, of which, whatever one may do, one is never deprived;

conditional, which depend above all on the responsiveness to other preceding grace;

sacramental, which can only be received in the sacraments to which they are attached;

decisive, which have an influence on the pre vious response to grace in securing a man's salvation, or his greater sanctification.

that of prayer is the most ordinary and the most

absolute, that of final perseverance is the only one that

we know certainly to be decisive for salvation.

1st, by an infinity of means, be it interior or ex terior, of which God reserves to Himself the use, and which are in nowise at our disposi tion.

2d, by means which God has put in our reach, of which He recommends to us the use, and to which He has promised or attached it. These means are prayer and the sacraments.

1st, that God has shown Himself infinitely merci ful in the work of the redemption ;

2d, that He wishes sincerely the salvation of all, since His grace comes to all, by all manner of ways;

3d, that if man deliberately rejects the Mercy of God set forth on Calvary, and offered in the Sacraments, he cannot before God's judg ment seat claim it. He cannot reject mercy now and claim then what he has rejected.

PREDESTINATION

ARTICLE VI. PREDESTINATION. WHAT is PREDESTINED. ERRORS TO BE AVOIDED. PUNISHMENTS AND REPROBATION

COf Human Nature to Glory.

PREDESTINATION. •< The Means of its Accomplishment. [ Of the Individual Attainment.

Predestination is not a quality of the creature, but like Providence an action of the Eternal Goodness.

It is the predestination of human nature to a celestial elevation and beatitude.

It is the eternal purpose and decree of God to complete creation in a Kingdom of Righteousness which shall be a reflection of His own nature, united to Him supernaturally in unchangeable bliss.

It is the predestination of this end and of all the means necessary thereto through the Incarnation and our perfected union with it.

It is the predestination of nations, i.e., Jacob have I loved, — Esau have I hated, — to their mission in the divine plan.

It is the predestination of the Church as the Bride of Christ, the liv ing Temple of His tabernacling.

It is the predestination of those finally composing this body, who, chosen "in Christ," i.e., for His merits, are brought "by" Him, i.e., as they use the means of grace He has provided, to everlasting salvation.

As God doeth all things by weight and number, the requisite number required for the Church's everlasting beauty, order, and complete ness is predestinated.

But as one may so perfectly design a building as to specify every separate article to be used in it and yet not designate any par ticular article as entering into its composition, so God may design with absolute completeness His temple, leaving it free to men to become as they choose to respond to His grace, its living stones.

PREDESTI NATION.

"What pre destined.

Of God's fore knowledge.

will.

Those who will finally compose the kingdom are known to God who sees the end as ever present.

His sight of those who will or will not accept His call, does not cause their action any more than our knowledge of what happened yester day caused it to happen.

The called, chosen, justified, and glorified are foreknown but their being foreknown does not effect their being called, justified, and glorified.

It is not the will of God that any should perish.

God makes possible, therefore, the salvation of all men and provides

the means of their securing it. God calls some to a special office as Paul before birth, but He calls

all men exteriorly and interiorly to the knowledge of Himself and

obedience (Gal. i. 15). He stands at the door of every man's heart and knocks. It is in man's

power to refuse to listen and keep the door closed. As nature, with weakened will and wrong desires, cannot move itself

to good without divine aid (no man coming unless the Father draw

him), God bestows sufficient grace on all men. Thus the knock penetrates within, and moves the mind, heart, and

will. When man co-operating with this grace opens the door, God

enters in ; by His Sacraments the called become the elect or

chosen, are justified and conformed to Christ's Image, and the

persevering are finally glorified.

ERRORS CONCERNING PREDESTINATION

97

SOME ERRORS TO BE AVOIDED CONCERNING

f Predestination \ and Grace.

§2

ERRORS CONCERNING PREDESTINATION AND GRACE.

Calvinism.

Pelagianism.

It is an error to hold

Anninianism.

Which taught that God by an absolute decree foreordained some to. faith and blessedness and others to unbelief and damnation.

This arbitrary action is defended on the ground of God's sovereignty. " Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God?"

It denies the free will of man, makes the work of grace irre sistible and assures the final perseverance of the elect.

This doctrine is not held by the Catholic Church.

As Calvinism is grace without will, Pelagianism is will with out grace. It regards human nature as capable of itself avoiding all sin and fulfilling the moral law. Semi-Pela- gianism admitted the assistance of grace, but held that the initial or preparatory acts were performed by man's unaided powers.

Arminius held that God predestined a certain fixed number of individuals to glory, but that this decree was based on His foreknowledge that those so predestined would make good use of the grace given.

But either man has the natural power without grace to cor respond to God's calls, and then this theory is Pelagian, or, knowing, that before any man can respond favourably, he must have the aid of grace, God gives it to all men, and so not to a few seeing what use they will make of it.

In asserting the predestination of certain individuals to glory, this theory so far agrees with Calvinism.

rthat man's free will is sufficient without grace to avoid all sin and obey fully the moral law;

that man's free will has become so impaired and weakened as to be incapable of responding to grace;

that man cannot resist God's calls or the movements of grace, and that it operates without man's co-operation;

that if once in a state of grace, he cannot fall away from it, but remains ever in an accepted state;

that man cannot do good works before justification by the aid of actual grace given him;

that the Christian cannot perform good works which merit, according to Christ's promise, a reward;

that Christ did not die for all and make satisfaction for the sins of the whole world;

that He does not give sufficient grace to every man whereby he may be saved.

7

§3

PUNISH MENT AND REWARD.

T-, f Punishments.

PUNISHMENT, REWARDS, AND ENDS I n ...

OF LIFE 1 ReProbatlon-

{^Salvation and Rewards.

Christ has paid the debt due by humanity to God's Justice. He

has made a full, perfect, and sufficient satisfaction for the sins of

the whole world. The distinction that He thereby delivered man from the eternal

loss due sin, but did not so satisfy God's justice as to remove

temporal punishment, which man must do by his good deeds,

seems unsound, for man by no act can satisfy the demands of

God's justice. Christians united to Christ have part in the full satisfaction to

God's justice that Christ has made. God in love may visit them with chastisements not to satisfy His

justice, but for their good. When public scandal is given as in the case of King David, public

punishment may follow after his repentance, to teach the nation,

and for his own good. Though forgiven, punishment in private cases may follow after

reconciliation for remedial purposes. Those who being imperfect die in grace, must suffer the scorching

sight of Christ's absolute holiness, and the painful revelation

of their own self-love. There must be mental pain in the burning of the acts of " wood

and hay and stubble " done for selfish or worldly motives. But now as Christians put love into their losses, afflictions, and pains,

they anticipate or render unnecessary such future discipline.

Punishments as due.

Reprobation.

Salvation

and

reward.

It is the will of God in His goodness to create, although seeing that some will not attain the end of the Beatific Vision.

God is just in that no man loses that end and perishes but by his own fault. No one is decreed to reprobation.

And God sees that while the creation of the perfected kingdom of beauty and holiness, involves temporarily the permission of evil and the loss by some souls, yet greater good is done by creating than by not creating.

We are saved by and in the Incarnate Son of God. He is the Saviour, the Living Way, the True Vine, the Life.

The way to glory is that new and living way opened to us "through the veil, that is Christ's Flesh.'

From Him comes the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the needed gift of habitual grace, which incorporates us into Him.

For those who lived before His Advent, Christ provided by enter ing Hades, preaching and communicating Himself to those who had conformed to the grace as given them and to others "some time disobedient," and uniting them in safety to Himself.

He can now minister to the heathen and all souls as they appear before Him for judgment.

In my Father's house are many stations where souls thus saved may pass in their progressive purification to a heavenly state.

There is the 144,000 who belonged while on earth to the body and soul of the Church, and the great innumerable multitude who belonged, by acting on the grace given them, to its soul and whom Christ gathered unto His Body by His own personal ministration.

And there every good deed done in grace for Christ's sake will „ have its reward.

NATURE OF THE SACRAMENTS

99

Nature.

Institution.

A dministration.

Reasons for Institution.

Harmony.

Validity.

C Definition. NATURE OF THE SACRAMENTS. -C Analysis.

^ Characteristics.

CHAPTER III. THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL.

ARTICLE I.

	^Defini tion.
NATURE
OF THE SACRA
MENTS.	Analysis. "
	Charac teristics.

Man approaches God by external acts of worship. God approaches man through external acts of grace.

As in the order of nature God bestows life and its sustenance through or dained factors and instrumentalities, so He bestows and sustains the new spiritual life in like manner through ordained instruments.

The first and chief of these is the Humanity of Jes-us Christ, "that saving grace which Christ originally is, by sacraments He severally deriveth into every member" of His Church — Hooker. Grace flows from the Humanity of Jesus Christ into us.

The Gospel sacraments unite us to that Humanity and preserve us in union with it.

The Sacraments are effective through the power of the Holy Ghost. "Born of water and the Holy Ghost."

A sacrament of the gospel differs from those of the old law which were merely signs, pledges, tokens of a covenanted relationship, in that a sacrament of the gospel "works invisibly in us and quickens or gives life to faith."

A sacrament is thus an outward and visible sign of an inward and spirit ual grace, whereby we receive the same. " They strengthen and confirm faith."

The sacraments also came to be known by the name of " The Holy Mysteries."

The term " matter and form" came into more precise theological use in the thirteenth century and the distinction is a useful one.

We must consider the material required and the forms or words used in the sacramental administration.

We must discriminate between the essential and divinely instituted rites proper to a sacrament, and those non-essential and of ecclesiastical in stitution.

We must note the special effect peculiar to each sacrament and which separates it from others.

Also the minister who has the lawful authority of administering the sacra ment validly, and

the conditions required in the recipient for its beneficial reception.

The sacraments are then the external and obvious channels of an inward

and invisible grace. They are called by Article XXV, "Effectual signs of grace," i.e., a sign

that carries its effect along with it. A sacrament embodies and conveys to us an act of God's favour and so is

a communicator of grace; God's favour always being accompanied with

a gift to the individual. The sacraments are grace clothed in outward form and so are like the

human nature which they come to aid. They ,have a resemblance to the revelation of God under a human form in

the Incarnation.

They are as agencies communicating grace, differentiated from the some times so-called sacraments of the law, which were but shadows and

symbols of the evangelical sacraments.

The gospel sacraments convey grace where no obstacles are placed in their L way.

ioo DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE SACRAMENTS

ARTICLE II. THE DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE SACRAMENTS.

The Divine Source. The Divine Author. The Foreshadowings. The Fitness.

	'The divine
	source.
	The divine -< author.
DIVINE INSTITU
TION OF THE SACRA
MENTS.
	The divine fore shadowing.
	The divine "4 ^fitness.

No sensible object has by reason of its own nature the virtue of produc ing and of communicating grace.

God alone can so empower nature as to produce a supernatural effect by natural means.

Sacraments as capable of producing or communicating divine aid can not be of human institution.

God is therefore their author, employing for the distribution of His aid instrumental agencies.

The agencies are made efficient by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Mediator and Head of the Church, is the direct or indirect Institutor of the Sacraments.

Christ instituted and ordained the matter and form of the two sacra ments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist as the means by which individuals could receive a new nature and its nourishment, by in corporation into Himself.

The Holy Spirit acting through the Apostles gave the matter and form of the other sacraments, authorised by Christ's words and example, and needed for the preservation and well being of the Church.

Baptism was foreshadowed by those in the ark " saved by water" from perishing, by the salvation of the Israelites by their baptism in the Red Sea, by the brazen laver, the sprinkling of the leper, by the clean water and the gift of new heart prophesied by Ezekiel, by the bap tism of Christ in Jordan.

The Holy Eucharist by the Tree of Life, the living coal, the manna, the shekinah, the shew bread, Elijah's cake, and by our Lord's miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and feeding the famishing multitude.

Absolution, by the word of the Lord through Nathan on David's re pentance, the forgiveness of the Ninevites, by the restoration of Israel, by the word of the Lord as the Son of Man, by His forgive ness of sinners, by His breathing on the Apostles, signifying that by the Holy Spirit and word of mouth they were to forgive sins in His name.

Holy Orders, by the anointing of Aaron and the Jewish priesthood, by the washing of the Apostles' feet as symbolical of their priestly office, by consecrating them with the Holy Spirit, and the outwaid signs of wind and fire.

Confirmation, by the promised gifts of the spirit by Isaiah, by the super natural strength given to Samson, by the weapons with which David conquered the Giant, by the Mantle of Elijah, by the laying of Christ's hands on the little children, and in the anointing of the eyes of the blind.

Unction, by the answer to the prayer of Elijah for the life of the child, by the recovery vouchsafed to Hezekiah, by the healings wrought by the Apostles when sent out by Christ and anointing the sick with oil, by the happy deaths, or falling asleep in Jesus of Christians.

Holy Matrimony, by its primal institution, by its blessing by Christ at Cana, by its symbolical significance as a type of the union between Christ and His Church.

By the sacramental system Christ provides for the body and soul. By the apparent feebleness of the means He humbles man's pride. By the placing of the means of salvation within the easy reach of man. By showing forth the Mercy of God in gentle and most loving forms. By giving men established assurances of their acceptance with God.

THE MINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS 101

THE MINIS TRATION

OF THE

SACRA MENTS.

CBy the Apostles ;

ARTICLE III. THE MINISTRATION OF I Witnessed by the THE SACRAMENTS. ] Holy Spirit ;

l^And the Church.

Christ, who had delivered mankind by the cross, brought restoration to men by the sacraments.

The Apostles, through whom Christ and the Holy Spirit acted, estab lished their ministration.

They admitted into the body of Christ three thousand persons by bap tism on the day of Pentecost.

When asked by individuals, "What shall we do," they said, "Repent and be baptised."

When they found those who had only received John's baptism, they gave them Christian baptism. Acts xix.

They laid hands on the baptised and confirmed them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

Wlien they learned that Samaria had received the word, they sent Peter 'Promul- and John, that they might receive the Holy Ghost, and when the

gated Apostles laid their hands on them they received the Holy Spirit,

by the | They exercised the power of retaining sin and casting out of the Church,

Apostles. and of restoration and forgiveness. "If I forgave anything, to

whom I forgave it, forgave I it in the Person of Christ."

They ordained elders or presbyters in the cities, and those who were to have the government of local churches as "Angels or Bishops."

The giving of orders conveyed a gift. " Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."

They gave laws respecting the marriage of the laity, and of deacons and deaconesses or widows or presbyters. These officers, as bearing wit ness to the one Church and one Lord, were to be married but once.

They took order respecting the sick and bade them send for the elders and make their confession and be anointed.

They continued in the "breaking of Bread" and offered at Jerusalem daily the Holy Eucharist, made it the service "for the Lord's day" and "set in order" the rites concerning its ministration.

The Holy Spirit declared that Christian Baptism was for " the remis sion of sins," that "laying on of hands" in confirmation, was for " the receiving of the Holy Ghost," that "penance" was for restora tion by the clergy, or persons spiritual, and was " the ministry of Reconciliation";

that Holy Orders bestowed a gift and made the recipients ambassadors of Christ and "stewards of the mysteries";

that matrimony was a union of those "in the Lord" and a mystery of the union of Christ and His Church;

that God would hear the prayer of faith and raise up the sick, and if they had committed sins they should be forgiven him;

that the Holy Eucharist was a "showing forth of the Lord's death " and a "partaking of Christ's Body and Blood."

The Church has borne witness to all these means of grace by her use of them. She has adapted her use, as for example, in the substitution of private for public confession, in the different modes in the Eastern and Western churches of administering confirmation and in giving the Holy Eucharist to infants.

It is to be noted that the order of their institution does not determine the order of their administration. Christ, e.g., instituted the Holy Eu charist, because connected with His passion, before Holy Baptism and Absolution, which belonged to His kingly office.

Witnessed by the Spirit,

and the Church.

IO2

PURPOSES OF THEIR INSTITUTION

ARTICLE IV. PURPOSES OF THEIR fAs Witnesses of the Faith. INSTITUTION. \Pledges and Seals of Grace.

The sacraments are the gospel in action. They are living witnesses of the faith.

They are probably one of the two candlesticks, one of the two olive trees, one of the two witnesses of the apocalypse.

They are encyclopedic in the comprehensiveness of their testimony.

Baptism tells of the sinful state of man and the need of his cleansing.

It bears witness to the foundation truth of Christianity in the three per sons of the Blessed Trinity.

The Holy Eucharist declares the fact of the Incarnation by the neces sary use of the words, "this is My Body, this is My Blood."

They bear witness also to the permanency of the union of the two natures, for the words would not declare a truth to-day if the humanity 'As wit- had been laid aside.

nesses J It sets forth, by the breaking of the bread and the separate consecration of the ] of the cup, the death of Christ.

faith. It proclaims the unity of the Church, as being one Loaf, by all partak

ing of the one Bread.

Confirmation shows forth the abidingness of the Holy Spirit in the Church and indwelling in the faithful.

Holy Orders declare the prophetical, priestly, and kingly offices of Christ, who as the Prophet, King, and High Priest has representa tives under Him.

Penance is the manifestation in an organised form of Christ's mercy and of the restorative power of the Precious Blood.

Matrimony proclaims the indissolubility of the bond that unites Christ to His Bride, the Church.

Unction tells how Christ's redemption of man extended to his body as well as his soul.

PURPOSES

OF THEIR

INSTITU TION.

As God's pledges to us.

As seals whereby we are .sealed.

The sacraments are holy and sure pledges of God's good will to us.

Our Heavenly Father would not have us left in doubt concerning His

love and our acceptance. He would not have us left to the uncertainties of our own feelings or to

the mistakes of our theological convictions. He has placed His gifts in such outward instrumentalities that they

may be possessed with a divine certainty and be within the reach of

all in Christian lands. Wherever the gospel goes, the silver trumpets proclaiming the year

of jubilee are ever sounding. The fountain of cleansing is ever

troubled.

The table of the Lord is ever spread. Christ, in the sacraments, sets forth the fulness and freeness of His

mercy. He nails His Hands in Benediction and opens an inex haustible fountain of grace in His pierced side.

In the Patriarchal dispensation God gave the seal of circumcision as

the token of a covenanted state. It was continued in the Jewish

times. In the Christian we have not a seal only, but are sealed with the Spirit.

The Fathers speak of baptism as a holy and indelible seal. By the sealing, a character is imparted to the soul. "Grieve not the

Holy Spirit whereby ye are sealed." The three sacraments which impart character are Baptism, Orders, and

Confirmation.

These sacraments therefore cannot be repeated. Baptism and Penance are called sacraments of the dead. The others

are sacraments of the living, or those in a state of grace.

HARMONY OF THE SACRAMENTS

io3

( Between Themselves.

A IT -a 0 I With the Seven Staqes of Life.

ARTICLE V. HARMONY OF THE SACRAMENTS. •< TJ7.,L ., Ar , , •>, A, ' ,

With the Needs of the Church.

\With the Final Aim of Religion.

HARMONY

OF THE

SACRA MENTS.

Between them selves.

With the seven stages of life.

With the needs of the Church.

With

our

union

with

Christ.

With the

final aim of .religion.

'In the order of time Baptism is the first because in order to live one must be born.

Confirmation is next, because being born one must be clothed, or pro tected by heavenly armour.

The Eucharist next, because as it is impossible to live without food so the spiritual life needs the nourishment of the Bread from heaven.

Penance, because it is the remedy for the soul's sickness and injuries done itself by sin.

Marriage is a state of life and provides subjects for the sacraments; and Holy Orders, the ministers of them.

Unction comes last, being for the good of the body and the commenda tion of the soul to God.

Baptism as the first sacrament is for the reception into the Church of

penitent adults, and is fittingly also the sacrament of infancy. Confirmation which is conferred in the Eastern Church on infants by

anointing, is in the west conferred by laying on of hands and so is

the sacrament of adolescence. The Holy Eucharist and Penance belong to our whole life because our

souls are ever in need of spiritual food, cleansing and restoring. Order and Matrimony are for those in mature life, and necessary for

the preservation and government of the Christian family. Unction is for the time of our illness and decaying strength and comfort

in our passing.

Baptism gives Her spiritual children.

Confirmation makes them Church soldiers.

Penance gives them back alive to her. They were lost and are found.

The Eucharist provides the worship of the gospel and the feast upon the sacrifice.

Orders prolong the ministration of Christ in the Church in the three offices of deacons, priests, and bishops.

Marriage endows the Church with a living witness to the heavenly bride groom, the eternal bride, the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Unction is a witness of the abiding of the spirit and prepares her chil dren for their meeting with the Lord.

In Baptism we are made members of Him.

In Confirmation are armoured and united to His Mission.

In Absolution cleansed by His blood.

In the Eucharist made partakers of His Body and Blood.

In Holy Orders united to His priesthood, prophetical and kingly offices.

In Unction we receive of His health and peace.

In Matrimony we are joined in Him to one another.

The aim is our supernatural union with God. It begins in baptism, the sacrament of life and light. It increases in confirmation, the sacrament of strength. It is renewed in penance, the sacrament of Pardon. It is maintained and developed by the other sacraments. ^It is consummated in the Holy Eucharist, which gives us Christ Himself.

THE VALIDITY OF THE SACRAMENTS

THE

VALIDITY OF THE

SACRA- MEXTS.

Their validity. On what dependent.

* trr rr> -IT C Their Subjects.

ARTICLE VI. THE VALIDITY OF THE I „,, T7 /,

~ < When Valid.

SACRAMENTS. I „,, r,. ...

\^ihe Dispositions.

The subjects are all members of the human race, for Christ died for all

men, and humanity alone is capable of receiving grace. The five sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Pen ance, and Unction, are for all according to their respective needs. 'The Baptism and the Eucharist are universally necessary where they may

subjects be had. Baptism, for without it we are not united to Christ; the

of the -s Holy Eucharist, for to wilfully neglect it is to be disobedient to His

sacra- command.

ments. The sacrament of Holy Orders is for those who are called to the office

and work of the priesthood. The call is a joint one, inwardly by the Holy Spirit, and outwardly through the Church.

The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is for Christians as they shall judge the same to serve better to Godliness.

When the right matter and form are applied, the sacraments are valid, not otherwise. It would not be valid to administer baptism with milk, or the Blessed Sacrament with water or unfe^mented wine. In the last case it would not be the Lord's Supper but a man-made service and no covenanted blessing would be attached to it.

The matter and form of the sacraments are to be applied simultaneously. In the giving of Holy Orders, in the Anglican Church, the bestowal of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the bishop's hands for the office and work of the priesthood, is given along with a designation of an exclusively sacerdotal power, and that of the Episcopate with the scriptural statement of the Spirit's gift of the power, etc., be longing to that order.

In the bestowal of the sacraments their proper order must for their validity be observed. Baptism or incorporation into Christ is the foundation necessary for the reception of all other sacramental gifts from Christ.

Persons cannot receive validly the other sacraments who have not first been baptised. Should any discover that they had not been validly baptised, they should be baptised conditionally and receive in like manner the other sacraments.

There must be a proper minister to officiate, i.e., a deacon cannot cele brate the Holy Eucharist, a priest cannot ordain. But a layman may baptise by the recognised Church's permission for whom he acts. Matrimony does not require a priest save for blessing. The contract ing parties are the agents of the sacrament.

There should be a disposition on the part of the officiant to do what the Church desires to be done.

The unbelief or un worthiness of the minister cannot affect the validity of the sacrament.

Nor the positive determination not to do what the Church orders, be cause this would be a sinful act, ultra vires, and so not operative.

The sacraments convey the grace of which they are the bearers when no obstacle is put in the way.

Infants are thus rightly baptised. In the Eastern Church they are also confirmed and receive the Holy Eucharist. In the case of the uncon scious it is held they may receive baptism, which when conscious they desired. The insane in like manner according to their mental ability to respond to grace.

For the beneficial reception by adults there must be faith in Christ and repentance.

For penance, attrition, confession, purposed amendment of life with such satisfaction as the case admits.

The other sacraments, for their beneficial reception, require one to be in a state of grace or charity.

And the

necessary

disposition.

THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

io5

Cits Essence.

CHAPTER IV. THE SACRAMENT OF J Administration. BAPTISM. ] Holy Scripture.

{^Effects and Obligations.

ARTICLE I. ESSENCE OF BAPTISM.

Its Nature. Its Institution.

THE SACRA MENT OF BAPTISM.

Its

nature.

Its .institution.

It is the first sacrament and the foundation for the reception of all the others.

It is the calling, or election to grace, made manifest. It is the rainbow of the New Covenant.

It is not a pledge of only external aid, but a conveyance of a divine gift.

It conveys God's forgiveness, and an incorporation into Christ and into His Church.

It is therefore called, as a seminal gift of life and birth into the Church, the sacrament of regeneration.

^It is the instrumental cause on God's part of our justification.

'There are four baptisms in the New Testament, which must be discriminated from each other.

These are, the baptism by John, the baptism of Christ, that by Christ, and Christian baptism.

The baptism by John was not in the name of the Blessed Trinity, for that name had not been revealed, and his baptism conveyed not the gift of the Spirit for the Spirit was not yet given.

The baptism of Christ was for the identification of Himself as the representative Penitent of the sinful race He came to save, and for the anointing of the Spirit for His Messianic office as its de liverer.

The one and only baptism by Christ was that of the whole Church with fire and the Holy Ghost, when the Holy Spirit, coming from Christ, took up His abode in the Church, uniting it to Him.

Christian baptism, in the name of the Blessed Trinity is the baptism instituted and commanded by our Lord.

The time when our Lord instituted Christian baptism was in the days of His victory and when He manifested His kingly powers.

By right of conquest He now sends His Apostles into all the world and bids them make subjects of all nations to Himself.

As at the beginning of the Jewish dispensation, God was revealed by His Name Jehovah, so the new creation begins with the revela tion of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The name of God reveals the nature of God, by it we understand his attributes, His essence, His own self. To be baptised into His Name, signifies a new incorporation into Himself which takes place in Christ.

Christian baptism was first administered at Pentecost by the Apos tles. John's baptism was a baptism to repentance. But Christian baptism conveyed "remission of sins."

The baptism by John, not being Christian baptism, had, where given, to be supplemented by the Christian sacrament. Acts xix.

io6

THE ADMINISTRATION OF BAPTISM

ARTICLE II. THE ADMINISTRATION I „,, e

T» •< The Mode.

\^The Necessity.

'No power of order or of jurisdiction is required to validly administer baptism.

A layman, even a heretic or schismatic, may do so according to the Church's ruling and practice.

Baptism differs from the other sacraments which require a consecra tion of elements, or a laying on of hands, or the exercise of a judi cial power.

One reason why one not in the body can admit into it is that baptism is purely an act of God, and by it we are admitted.

Christ is the door and Christ opens the door.

But while lay baptism is valid and to be used in cases of necessity, the lawful ordinary minister is a bishop or priest, the extraordinary one a deacon.

Where there was a desire for baptism before death, it is held that the rule of equity applies, and that God will act Himself or consider that done which was intended to be done.

THE AD MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM.

'The minister.

The mode.

The necessity.

The element or matter is water.

In the physical order of nature, while the sun is the source of material

life, the ocean is its birthplace. Water was thus appropriately taken as the element for the sacrament

of our new birth. The words or form are "I baptise thee " or "Thou art baptised," which

express the action and its subject; with the words "In the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," which express

the Being into whom the person is baptised. Baptism into "The name of God" would not be Christian baptism,

nor in "The name of Jesus," which would not be baptism into the

Holy Trinity. The amount of water used is not of the essence of the sacrament. The

earliest mode was ordinarily by immersion, but could not have been

so in all cases. It is validly administered by pouring, and properly once at the name

of each person of the Blessed Trinity. As baptism signifies washing, the water should be seen to touch the skin

and to flow.

The words and the application of the water are to be simultaneous. The Anglican Church places the font ordinarily by the church door,

signifying that baptism is the initiation into the Church. It allows of private baptism in cases of sickness or necessity. It uses exorcism or impetration for deliverance from the devil, the

world, and the flesh.

The water is blest and sanctified for the mystical washing away of sin. The minister takes the child in his hands, symbolising the action of

Christ as adopting the child and uniting it to Himself. The sign of the cross is made on the baptised as significant of its seal ing in the Lord. The adult is to come prepared by prayer and fasting.

Because our Lord proclaimed it in His discourse to Nicodemus. Ex cept one be "born anew," "born of water and the Spirit," he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

He also said, He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved. Whereby baptism is made a condition equally with belief.

Because no one can be saved but by and in Christ, and baptism is the means of putting on Christ.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF BAPTISM

107

111

THE AD MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM (continued) .

The Subjects. £3

rr,

THE ADMINISTRATION OF BAPTISM.

A living human being not yet baptised validly.

If an adult, one having, by the aid of prevenient grace, faith and re pentance.

Faith, explicitly in Christ as stated in the Apostles' Creed, and im plicitly (as entering the Church as a scholar), in all the Church be lieves and teaches.

Adult subjects.

.Infants.

Repentance for all actual sins, with a detestation of mortal sins and a resolve to live a Christian life.

These conditions are the work of the Holy Ghost given before bap tism, as seen in cases of Saul, Cornelius, and Apollos.

'The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has ever admitted infants to baptism.

She has done this on the command of her Lord to make by baptism disciples of all nations, and infants are a part of a nation and in cluded in it.

Our Lord did not say except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, but "TIM" i.e., anyone, a man, woman, or child.

Our Lord was much displeased with those that would keep children back from Him, and said "of such," expressing His desire to re ceive them, "is the Kingdom of Heaven."

The Apostles baptised whole households, which included the slaves and where some children must have been; for children are recog nised as being Christian children as " being in the Lord," which could be only by baptism.

God foreknew that the general custom of the Church would be to bap tise infants, and since it was not forbidden, the result shows He in tended that infants should be baptised.

The condition of baptism, or of entering the Kingdom, as given by our Lord, is to become like a little child, and repentance and faith are required of adults that they may fulfil that condition.

The infant has no sins to repent of, and as he has not lifted up his will against God, has not by an act of faith to take it down.

The adult must bring himself into this passive condition of the little child, and does so by faith and repentance.

The original sin in the infant is no bar to baptism, for the existence of something to be removed is no obstacle to its removal.

As an infant without any will or act of its own is born with an im paired nature and without needed grace, it is but fair that without any action of its own its imperfection should be healed.

That children unconsciously may receive a gift of grace, the Lord shows by taking young children up in His arms and blessing them.

For this gift the Anglican Church in her baptismal service gives hearty thanks to God over every infant, thanking God "that it hath pleased Thee to regenerate this infant with Thy Holy Spirit."

The Church does not hold that this gift is confined to a predestined few, or is dependent on the faith of sponsors, seeing that in the private baptism of infants she does not require them.

o8

BAPTISM IN HOLY SCRIPTURE

BAPTISM IN HOLY SCRIPTURE.

ARTICLE III. BAPTISM IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. ITS TYPES

'The Fathers saw a type in the creative action of the brooding — of the Spirit upon the waters and the waters bringing forth the creature that hath life.

A type of baptism is to be discerned at the beginning of all the dis pensations.

In Paradise we find the River that, divided into four parts, flowed out to all the four quarters of the earth and symbolised the life that was to flow out to all mankind.

The Patriarchal dispensation was ushered in by the "saving by water " of those in the Ark.

The Mosaic Church, by its deliverance from the worldly power of Pharaoh and its baptism to Moses in the Red Sea.

Israel as a new nation enters into its promised possession by its pas sage through Jordan.

The Christian dispensation is ushered in by the baptism in Jordan of Christ.

There are also types and symbols in each period of the Church's development.

In the Patriarchal time, we have the wives of the patriarchs who typify the Christian Church, found by the well; and Hagar, whom Holy Scripture declares a type of the Jewish Church, on crying to the Lord, has her eyes opened and is directed to the well of water and lives.

In Israel's journeyings, there is the smitten rock, the brazen laver, the levitical purifications, the bitter water of Mara made sweet and life-sustaining by the wood of the cross.

In Canaan, there is the water of the well of Bethlehem, the cleansing of Naaman in Jordan, the raising of the iron from the water by the wood, the water and fire of Elijah's victory, the stream of Ezekiel's vision.

'Types of baptism.

The New Testament.

'Christ came by water and blood. By water, that is, His baptism by John wherein He identified Himself with us sinners, and by Blood whereby He redeemed us.

During His visible ministry Jesus baptised not. The baptism at this time by the Apostles was not Christian baptism, for the name of the Trinity had not been revealed or the Holy Spirit given.

Christian baptism was instituted and commanded by Christ; and the Fathers universally interpret His words, "except one be born of water and the spirit," of baptism.

The Apostles replied to the multitude, asking what they should do, "Repent and be baptised unto the remission of your sins."

After Saul, the Jew, was converted, Ananias the prophet came and said, "Arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins."

When Cornelius, the gentile centurion, had received the prevenient grace of the Holy Spirit, and was converted, he was recognised as a fit subject for baptism, and was baptised.

When the jailor at Philippi was converted he and all his were baptised.

The Apostles taught that baptism was the instrument conveying for giveness of sins. By it we were saved, were born again. It united the person to Christ; by it we put on Christ; we are buried with

w Him, and so have part in His resurrection.

THE EFFECTS OF BAPTISM

109

ARTICLE IV. THE EFFECTS OF BAPTISM.

The Gift of Regeneration. Its Effeds on the Pasty

Present, and Future

of the baptised. Its Obligations.

	''The gift of re
	genera tion.
THE
EFFECTS OF
BAPTISM.
	Past,
	present, and •<
	future
	effects.

Baptism is the ordained instrument of our regeneration.

Regeneration is not connected in the New Testament with anything save with baptism.

It is an act of God which bestows a gift, and a grace.

By it we are gifted with a new birth, born anew, born from above.

It is one act by which we are born of "water and the Spirit."

As birth is one act, there cannot be two separate births, one of water, and another of the Spirit, nor a partial one at one time, completed at another.

We are thus reborn by God's act, "of God." Not "through" or "by," but "of" God. Our nature is reinforced by the communication of a new seminal principle of life from God.

The divine agent of this communication is the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is, however, given to adults before baptism in preparation for its recep tion, and after it in confirmation, and in other ways. But as the Life- Giver the Holy Spirit is the operative agent in baptism.

The new seminal principle of life so given comes from Christ. We are made members of Him and the Holy Spirit abides in the soul as the bond of union to Him.

In the Anglican baptismal office the minister prays, "Give Thy Holy Spirit to this infant that he may be born again." S. Peter declared that God "shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost," that the baptised "should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," and "that ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you."

The act of regeneration connotes three things : — Conception or a gift of life, the deliverance from our natural sin-bound environment, the birth into the kingdom of light.

There is a difference between regeneration and conversion. Conversion is a turning to God. Regeneration is an act of God on the soul. Con version in adults precedes baptism. The soul baptised in infancy, that has turned away from God must, as an adult, turn back to Him.

As the baptismal character remains one cannot be rebaptised, but by a conversion the grace of the sacrament revives.

Thus Simon Magus who received baptism unworthily, was not rebap tised by the Apostle, but only bidden to repent.

Respecting the past, Christian baptism is for "the remission of sins," original and actual. Paul was converted on his way to Damascus, but his sins were not remitted by his conversion but by his subsequent baptism.

Remission of sins is not a mere removal of an impediment to goodness ; it is the blotting out of the past. It is sin's deluge.

Respecting the present, it is the deliverance from bondage, a release from the dominion of sin. It gives us by union with Christ's nature and life a new nature and new spiritual life.

By baptism we become "sons of God," "born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." We become "par takers of the divine nature," not of His substance, but of His life of knowing and loving, and so are capable of knowing and loving Him supernaturally.

no OBLIGATIONS CONTRACTED BY BAPTISM

THE	Past,
EFFECTS	present,
	and
OF
BAPTISM.	future
(continued).	effects (continued).

	Necessity of co- •*
	operation.
OBLIGATIONS
CONTRACTED -< BY BAPTISM.	Its motives.
	.Duties. •*

Respecting the future, it is the ushering into the kingdom of light.

It makes us heirs with Christ, inheritors of the Kingdom of

Heaven. By the Holy Spirit's indwelling we have also gifts of created or

habitual grace, that we may successfully struggle against the

world, the flesh, and the devil. The virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity are developed so "that

we be steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, rooted in charity." Baptism operating in us, a renovation makes us acceptable to

God and justified in His sight. It leaves within us the unexterminated roots of desire, as God

left heathen nations in Canaan for the Israelite to conquer, to

be for us a ground of humility, watchfulness, and final victory

through grace.

'God, who has provided the means of man's salvation does not

secure it to him without his co-operation. Man, who has abused the gift of his free will to his own loss, must

contribute to his restoration. He is especially bound to work out his salvation, seeing that God

gives him the primary grace to do so. The gift of regeneration does not dispense with effort to preserve

and develop the life given. The fact that the gifts of baptism are neglected by many does not

prove they have not been received. The development of the Christian character, so different in its

ideal from that of paganism, or philosophy, bears witness to

the new nature.

As a child of God it becomes the baptised to cherish a sense of

the dignity of his new nature. As an heir with Christ of an eternal inheritance, to live above the

ambitions of earthly wealth.

As intrusted with a divine gift, to guard and protect it from de filement or loss. As made a temple of the Holy Ghost, to reverence the body and

consecrate the soul. As a soldier of Christ, to bring one's nature and its various parts

under constant discipline. As a witness to Him, to guard our words and acts that scandal is

given to none. As a redeemed sinner, to show forth our gratitude and love to

God by a life of self-sacrifice. As one with the great brotherhood of Christians, to do all one can

to further the kingdom.

To use daily prayer and practise self-examination.

To prepare for and receive the other sacraments according to

one's need. To attend at the offering of the Holy Eucharist on Sundays and

the great Festivals. To observe Lent, by practising self-denial, attendance at Church,

increased devotion.

To make one's communions regularly and with preparation. To strive after increasing holiness of life. To remember that the sign of the cross given in baptism is not

to be laid aside, but for use. To give alms and help to support the parish, the diocese, and the

Church's missions. To give of one's time and personal service to the cause of Christ.

CONFIRMATION

ii i

its Origin and Ministration.

CHAPTER V. CONFIRMATION.

ARTICLE I. ITS ORIGIN.

Recipients. MATTER AND FORM.

MINISTER

CONFIRMA TION.

Origin. -<

Titles, matter, and form.

The .minister.

In the progressive development of creation, man being made, God

breathed into him the breath of lives. This progressive action is seen in Christ. From the first instant of His

conception the Holy Spirit was given without measure unto Him,

but He received the form?! consecration of His Messiahship when

the Dove descended upon Him. The Church is formed in like manner. Christ makes it during His

visible life, then, ascended, fills it. He fills it with the abiding presence

of the Holy Spirit. The "ministration of the Spirit" was committed to the Apostles, it is

" he that ministereth the Spirit unto you." God is the author of the sacraments. They were instituted by our

Lord. Baptism and the Eucharist were ordered by Him immediately

since He appointed their matter and form. The five others were

ordered mediately through the Apostles under the guidance of the

Holy Ghost. The Apostles, guided by the Holy Ghost into an understanding of Christ's

words and acts, practised confirmation. Acts viii. 14-17; xix. 1-6. They made frequent references to it. II Cor. i. 21, 22; Eph. i. 13;

Tit. iii. 5 ; I John ii. 20, 27. It belonged to the Gospel system of laying on of hands for the commu

nicating of spiritual gifts, which was one of " the principles of the

doctrine of Christ." Heb. vi. 1.

From the references made to it in Holy Scripture it has been known by

several titles. It has been called " The Seal of the Lord," "The

Anointing " or "Chrism," "The laying on of hands," "Confirmation." The Church, being the source of its promulgation, has exercised the

right of its regulation. It may be administered in connection with

infant baptism, or reserved for a later age. It has been administered in the East by chrism blest by a bishop; in

the West by the laying on of hands and chrism; in the Anglican

Church by the former method, accompanied by some with the sign

of the cross on the forehead. As the Eastern and Roman churches both use chrism, it would char

itably tend to uniformity if the Anglican Church did so. It may be

thought within the jus lilurgicum of the bishop to do this. In the Church in Scotland the sign of the cross is used in confirmation,

and chrism was made after the Eastern formula.1 Chrism is used

in the English Church at coronations. As no form is recorded in Holy Scripture, confirmation has varied in

different parts of the Church, being regulated by ecclesiastical au

thority. In the Anglican Church, the bishop invokes the seven gifts of the Holy

Spirit upon the confirmed, and confirms them, laying on his hand

with the words, "Defend, O Lord, this thy child with thy heavenly

grace," etc.

The only ministers of confirmation as given in the New Testament are

the Apostles. When the original Apostolate became developed in the three orders it

was fitting that confirmation should continue to be administered by

the highest order of the ministry. In the East it is administered by

a priest with chrism, blest by a bishop.

1 Wirgman on Confirmation, 483, 484.

THE EFFICACY OF CONFIRMATION

C An Inward Gift.

ARTICLE II. EFFICACY OF CONFIRMATION, AS •< Its contrast urith tliat

^ of Baptism.

THE GIFT AND CONTRAST

In confirmation the Holy Spirit is given us. It is the peculiarity of the Holy Spirit that it may be given for different purposes and in different and progressive degrees. We may be filled with it for one purpose, and it may be given more and more increasingly.

It is given for the purpose of "signifying," as where the Spirit gave the gift of tongues to the Gentiles to assure the Apostles that they were to be gathered into the Church by baptism. Acts x. 45, 46. Signs may also follow after a sacrament to bear witness that the persons have received its grace. Acts xix. 6.

The Holy Spirit is also given for individual protection, against disease and the powers of nature, according to our faith and the Church's needs. S. Mk. xvi. 17, 18. But neither its "signifying" nor "provi- The dential " operations bestow grace.

inward ^ It gives grace before baptism, to lead to faith and repentance and pre- gift. pare souls for the reception of it, and so of other sacraments.

In the New Testament at the laying on of the Apostles' hands, the out ward signifying gifts were given along with the inward grace, but as being things distinct in themselves, they are not necessarily so com bined.

We may hold that none of God's gifts to His Church are lost, but now according to the Church's needs and our faith so will they continue to be manifest.

But in the ordinary ministration of the sacrament, no miraculous sign now accompanies it lest we should walk by sight rather than by faith.

In confirmation the gift of the Spirit is an inward one, for the needs of the soul.

The Holy Spirit according to Christ's promise comes to us as the Com forter. As Com-fort-er, the strong One, He comes to make us strong. As Confirmed, grace is given to be firm, steadfast in the faith, and abounding in the work of the Lord.

In confirmation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit promised us. As the seal leaves its impression on the warm wax, so now we receive not a mere token or pledge of help, but are sealed by the Spirit and a character is given us.

By baptism we are born "from above" and the seed of Christ's nature is implanted in us. The Holy Spirit is the living bond which unites us in Baptism to Christ's nature.

But in confirmation the Holy Spirit comes with fuller purpose and pregnancy to develop the Christ nature in us and make us after Christ's likeness.

It gathers us into union with His Spirit-led life and is an ever-present aid in the progressive work of the development of the Christian character.

It is not like a gift or seed planted in us, but an assured fellowship with a person who as the " Finger of God " guides and supports us.

In baptism we are saved, in confirmation we are sealed. In baptism we become members of Christ, in confirmation we are by the sealing acknowledged as His.

In baptism we are born, in confirmation clothed with heavenly armour. In baptism we are made children of God, in confirmation we be come kings and priests.

In baptism we are united to the nature of Christ, in confirmation to His offices.

§1

THE

EFFICACY OF CON FIRMATION.

Contrast

with

baptism.

THE SPIRIT'S ABIDING PRESENCE

n3

ARTICLE III. CONFIRMATION. THE SPIRIT'S fits Three Effects.

ABIDING PRESENCE. \The Sevenfold Gift.

	rThree
	effects of con
	firmation.
THE
SPIRIT'S ABIDING
PRESENCE.
	The
	seven
	fold gift -< bestowed by it.

'There are three effects wrought by Confirmation as revealed by the titles of the Holy Spirit given in Holy Scripture.

The Holy Spirit is there represented under the symbols of the Wind and Fire and Oil.

Now in baptism three things are done : we receive a seminal principle of new life, we are delivered from the womb of nature and our natural environment, we are born into the Kingdom of Light.

In the new kingdom we are surrounded by the Holy Ghost, that fills it as an atmosphere. So man in the natural order, needs for life and growth not only food, but air.

What the air, or wind, is to our natural life, that the Spirit is to our new life.

As it is by continual breathing our bodies are kept alive, so by con tinued correspondence with the Holy Ghost our Christ-received nature is kept vitalised.

The Holy Spirit is spoken of as Fire.

In baptism we are brought out of darkness into the spiritual organ ism of the Church, in which Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, abides.

As without an atmosphere we could not breathe, neither could we receive heat from the sun, so, by the Holy Spirit we receive the life-giving and developing heat on which our growth depends.

As it is the property of fire to transmute one element or thing into an other, so are we changed gradually into the perfect man.

As by fire precious jewels are formed, so are the saints made by the fire of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Spirit is symbolised by oil. It denotes light and the neces sity of having a continual supply in our lamps. . It also denotes anointing and our elevation as kings and priests unto God. We are thus being vitalised, transformed, and elevated by the gift of the v Spirit in Confirmation.

The Prayer Book gives as the sevenfold gift the spirit of wisdom, of

understanding, of counsel, of Ghostly strength, of knowledge, of

Godliness or piety, and the fear of the Lord. The spirit of wisdom keeps the Incarnate Wisdom before us, that we,

turning away from the folly of mere worldly wisdom, may seek after

God. The spirit of Understanding reveals the divinely illuminated spiritual

temple which is the Church, and the glories of the Catholic faith. The spirit of Counsel helps us to be guided by God's will in deciding

on our vocation, and all matters of duty. The spirit of Ghostly Strength makes us strong to overcome the evil

within, resist temptation, and bravely witness for Christ. The spirit of Knowledge enables us not only to believe in Him, but

to come to know Him experimentally.

The spirit of Godliness or piety establishes in us a filial, trusting re lation to Him, on whose mercy we rely, in whose love we rest. The spirit of Holy Fear wraps us in a protective vestment as of fire

against sin, and lifts us up into the eternal verities of the heavenly .. worship.

8

n4 ITS RECIPIENTS AND CHURCH'S CARE

ARTICLE IV. CONFIRMATION.

Its Recipients. The Church's Care. Errors.

CONFIRMA TION.

Its re cipients, and the Church's care.

The

baptised in a state of grace.

The

Church's

care.

Errors concern- mg it.

The Church, in the exercise of her rightful powers, has in the East made infants the subjects of Confirmation. As Confirmation is the comple ment of baptism it is theologically proper that the sacraments should be joined together.

The Western Church, separating the ministration of the two sacraments (as she had the power to do), has reserved the sacrament till the period of adolescence.

The Anglican as part of the Western Church has followed this rule, re quiring the candidate to be old enough to know the creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.

The danger in the Anglican Communion is the delaying confirmation until the passions have manifested themselves and the child is left to battle with them without this special aid of the Holy Ghost.

It is a mistake to suppose that the will which has been weakened by sin is stronger than the will that has not yielded to it.

It is necessary that the recipient be baptised, be in a state of grace, should be instructed in the faith, and be desirous of being confirmed.

As the Holy Spirit cannot be received into a soul in a state of mortal sin, it is desirable that candidates should previously go to confession and be absolved whenever there is a burden on the conscience or the per son is in ignorance of his spiritual state.

When the sacrament is received unworthily, it cannot be repeated. The grace lies within like a liquid in a sealed bottle, which can be opened by penitence and its virtues transmitted to the soul.

When the sacrament is invalid by lack of a proper minister, as in the case of the Lutherans, the bishop may accept it so far as the inten tion of witnessing to Christ is concerned, and only require that the person receive, and it may be privately, the laying on of hands.

Confirmation is a manifestation of the motherly care of the church for

her spiritual children. They are not taught that they are heathen or outside God's covenant of

grace, but are by their baptism members of Christ, children of God

and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are not left till having fallen into sin they become conscious of the

need of repentance and conversion. The Church in Confirmation acknowledges them, claims them as her

own, and takes them up in her arms for blessing.

The popular errors concerning Confirmation are that it is "a joining the Church," when we were made members of it by our baptism.

It is thought to be "a confirming of our baptismal vows," when we do not come to confirm, but to be confirmed by receiving the Gift of the Spirit.

It is shrunk from, on account of an unwillingness "to take upon oneself new obligations," when this is an impossibility. We can no more in crease our religious duties than we can the weight of the atmosphere. We owe certain duties to God and others, and confirmation helps us to fulfil them.

It is said by some, "We are already converted and have the spirit." Then since Christ has left this means for a special gift of the Spirit, you are entitled to it, and if humble minded will seek it.

THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

n5

§1

THE SACRA MENT OF PENANCE.

CHAPTER VI. PENANCE, OR SPIRITUAL I AJ . /, ..

T, •< Administration.

RESURRECTION. \ T\- •*•

^Dispositions.

C Need of a Remedy for Post-baptismal Sins.

ARTICLE I. J The Instituted Sacrament of Confession and Absolution IN ITSELF. ] Its Matter and Form.

{^Penance and Punishments.

'The baptised and confirmed are assaulted by continual temptations

from without and within, and no wonder many often fall. The effect of sin when it is grave in matter and deliberate as to will

is to separate the soul from the grace of God. The effect of accumulated lesser sins becoming habits and chilling the

soul has a like result. While retaining the character given it, the soul by sin forfeits the

privilege of its spiritual sonship and its heritage of heaven. If it feels no agony it is the sign of a dead soul. If any agony is felt

it is a symptom that the soul is yet spiritually alive. But just as no one can baptise himself, so no one can be his own ab-

solver and assure himself of the renewed favour of God. To meet the natural desire to unburden itself by confession and to

receive an assurance of acceptance other than by an uncertain feel ing, God instituted the sacrament of penance. Moreover, God in His justice would never threaten the sinner, if He

had not provided a way by which the penitent might know he was

forgiven.

The need.

The institution.

God only forgives sin. But now the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son.

He hath given Him authority to execute judgment not simply as God, but because He is the Son of Man. Christ claimed to exercise this power to forgive sins as "the Son of Man" and worked a miracle to prove it.

During the exercise of His prophetical, priestly, and kingly powers, He gathered the Apostles into union with each of them separately.

While teaching He bade them "Go and preach." They were to speak with authority. They and their order were to decide on ecclesias tical matters judicially.

As relating to themselves and their successors, in their prophetical office in the matter of doctrine and discipline, etc., Christ said "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."

He associated them with His priestly office when He bade them offer the Holy Sacrifice as a memorial of His death.

In the period of His triumph, He as King bade them make subjects by baptism and exercise the right of sovereignty in pardoning.

The bestowal of each commission separately shows that a special and not a general gift was bestowed when He said, "Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted." It was a gift different from preach ing or baptising which were given by themselves.

The time of its bestowal was most fitting and appropriate. It was the time of His great victory, when the gift of pardon is most fittingly bestowed by a King.

It was when Christ had conquered death, Satan, and hell, and secured ^ an open way through Himself into glory.

n6

THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

PENANCE.

{Its Matter and Form. The Punishments.

§2
THE
SACRA MENT OF
PENANCE
(continued .
	The insti
	tution
	(con tinued).
	Its
	matter "
	and form. >-•
-	Penance
	and
	punish- " s.ments.

As He first, after His resurrection, seeks the wandering, the fallen, the discouraged, so at this time He established a perpetual remedy for each class.

Symbolical of the priestly office, Christ in making His Apostles priests, washed their feet. In giving the commission to absolve, He breathed on them, who by word were to communicate the breath of life for the resuscitation of souls.

Our Lord gave to His Apostles the power to remit and retain sins. The word "remit" means, Mark vii. 8, to lay aside; "retain" signifies "hold on to." God lays aside our sins, casting them behind His back so that they are as if they had never been. The word "remit " thus signifies in its fullest sense "forgiven." I John i. 9. It is thus used in the Anglican Ordinal. He blots out our transgressions.

Christ hereby established His ministers as judges of the conscience. The Apostles sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes. Christ also made His ministers physicians of the soul, and by the grace of order, priests have given them grace to exercise their office of judge and physician.

There has been much disputation among theologians of an academic character concerning its scientific arrangement. It is well to accept for practical purposes "absolution" as the form. In the West and in the Anglican Church, the indicative formula is used. The three acts of repentance: contrition, confession, and satisfaction, are the matter.

As the Church may in her discipline impose penances on her penitents, so she may lessen or remit them by way of mercy or indulgence.

This was done in early times when penances were long and severe and were granted often at the entreaties of those on the way to martyrdom.

If, however, Christ has made a full satisfaction to God for our sins, no debt can remain in the absolved, due to the justice of God for the the wrong done Himself.

As the satisfaction of Divine Justice, even for a single sin, requires a reparation of infinite value, only the God-Man can make it; and as His acts are of infinite value the satisfaction must have been complete.

As no acts of man can satisfy, on account of their imperfect quality, none can be added to those of infinite value. Neither are Christ's merits to satisfy the Divine Justice, being infinite, capable of receiv ing an addition.

While nothing man can do can adequately satisfy the Divine Justice or wrong done to God, yet as regards ourselves Justice requires that punishment should follow our sins.

While the consequences of the eternal loss is removed by absolution, this temporal punishment which continues may be changed or re mitted, by humility, prayer, alms — deeds, and God's merciful appropriation to us of the merits of the Church.

For the Church being one body, its members share in all its good deeds and so with all the merits of the whole body.

THE MINISTRATION OF PENANCE

ARTICLE II. THE ADMINISTRATION OF PENANCE.

THE

MINISTRA TION OF PENANCE.

'Its minister.

Its effects.

fits Minister. \Its Effects.

power of absolution belonging to our Lord He now exercises by

sending others in His Name. "As My Father sent me, even so

send I you." To " bear God's Name " is the designation of ministerial authority in

the Old Testament. Ex. xxxiii. 21. And so it is "to bear Christ's

Name," in the New. " He is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My

Name." The Apostles were thus the accredited agents of Christ through whom

He now acts, the remission of sins being preached in His Name. By reason of this their ministry is called " The Ministry of Reconcilia

tion," the " Ministry of Righteousness." They exercised the ministry not only in preaching, but both by re

taining and remitting sins. Thus S. Peter retained those of Ananias

and Sapphira, and S. Paul delivered the back-sliding Corinthian

unto Satan. So S. Paul restored the penitent, forgiving him in the person of Christ ;

and S. Peter said judicially, "^Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee

whole." This power was exercised by others than the Apostles, for S. James

bids the sick send for the presbyters and make confession, and if

they have committed sins they shall be forgiven. As forgiveness of sin hath reference both to sin in its relation to God

and to the Church, it is probable when Christ spoke, others beside

the Apostles were present ; for the Church in its collective capacity

forgives sins committed against itself. But just as the priest in the

old dispensation could alone offer the sin offering, so now the priest

alone can forgive sins in their relation to God. In the Ordinal of the Anglican Church, the sacerdotal power of Ab

solution is coupled with the laying on of hands and the gift of the

Holy Ghost. "Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of

a priest, — now committed to thee by the imposition of our hands.

Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins thou

dost retain they are retained." rThe efficacy of the sacrament is not due to the acts of the penitent but

wholly to the merits of Christ. It restores life to the soul lost or im

paired by sin. While perfect contrition, being a work of grace, signifies God's for

giveness, Absolution is a sealing of God's pardon, giving assurance

and peace to the soul. Confession deepens penitence, Absolution

increases grace. It pardons and effaces all sins however numerous they may be and

however enormous their guilt. It reconciles the soul to God, restores it to a state of grace, or increases

it if in grace. It tends to heal the wounds occasioned by sin and fortifies the soul

against temptation.

It communicates aid to its virtues but does not render it impeccable. It re-establishes its communion with God, but does not assure its final

perseverance. It delivers from eternal punishment, but not from the temporal con

sequences of our sins. It does not debar God — where the sins are of a national character

as in the case of the Israelites, Num. xiv. 20-23, or have occasioned

public scandal, as in the cases of David and Miriam — from pun

ishing after forgiveness as a warning to others and for the good of

those who have sinned. While God's justice is fully satisfied by the infinite merits of Christ,

He may yet inflict some punishment as due or as a remedial disci- . pline in this world or the next.

n8

CONTRITION

§ i

CON TRITION.

{Contrition and Repentance for n t • Confession or Acknowledgment of It. Abandonment and Reparation,

Cits Nature. CONTRITION. < Its Kinds.

\^Its Qualities.

This sacrament of loving mercy differs from the others in that the re cipient must not only put no barrier in the way of its reception, but must actively co-operate with it. Contrition or repentance is an indispensable condition to the obtaining

of God's forgiveness.

Its J Aaron and David's penitence, Peter's and Paul's, the Magdalene and the

nature. penitent thief's, the publican and the prodigal son's are examples given

us of the necessary broken and contrite heart.

It begins under the influence of God's prevenient grace calling and draw ing the soul to penitence.

In its developed state it combines three elements: sorrow for having offended God, hatred of sin, resolution to sin no more.

There are two degrees of this contrition called perfect and imperfect.

Contrition is perfect when it has for its motive the love of God, and the soul is filled with sorrow because the Father's heart has been grieved, Christ has been wounded, and the Holy Spirit insulted and wronged.

Contrition is imperfect when its motives are somewhat less than these and is known as supernatural attrition. It is a sorrow arising from the fear of eternal punishment in the next life, or from other supernatural motive, and has a beginning of the love of God.

As being a work of grace it renders one fit to receive absolution. It often becomes perfected through the act of confession.

But whether perfect or imperfect, contrition must have four qualities. It must be interior and sincere. It must come from the heart. "Turn

ye even unto Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with

mourning." We must weep with Peter and wash Christ's feet with our

tears. It must proceed from supernatural, not mere natural motives. The latter

are such as proceed from our lost or compromised honour, from our

injured health or worldly prosperity, from any civil punishments, from

the shame attached to certain faults, from the loss of friends or property.

These latter motives produce natural Attrition. These motives can result only in a natural and human repentance, which

may take place apart from grace and do not merit the name of even

imperfect contrition. The sorrow to be effectual must also be of a universal character. It must

extend to all our sins and to our sinfulness. No one mortal sin can be

forgiven without all being repented of, and no one be accepted without

acknowledging himself to be a sinner. The sorrow must be of a sovereign character. It must not be merely in

the emotions but in the will. We must have a will to suffer anything

rather than offend God by sin, and to do what we can in the way of

reparation to God and man. It must desire to make some reparation to the wounded Heart of Jesus.

Make me as thy hired servant. By these four signs can our repentance be tested, whether it is a whole

or a partial repentance, whether it is genuine and sincere.

Its kinds.

Its

qualities.

CONFESSION

Its Nature.

CONFES SION.

Its

nature.

Its

power.

Attending advantages.

When to be used.

Advantages. Use.

Confession is the accusation made of our sins to God in the presence of a priest. A priest is necessary for counsel and to judge concern ing the fitness of the penitent to receive Absolution.

A confession without the desire of absolution has not a sacramental character and is only a conference.

Confession is not of our neighbour's sins but of our own, and it is not necessary for a penitent to say who he is, for his name is not a sin.

It should be of all known deadly or mortal sins, in then- kinds, number, and circumstances, so far as affecting our own guilt.

It is not necessary but beneficial that lesser sins should be confessed, for the increasing watchfulness and discipline of the soul ; and be cause repentance is an abiding, progressive, deepening, and life long process; and absolution strengthens and cleanses more and more.

As all souls are more or less infected with ignorance of their faults and with self-love, confession as a medicine for the sick is beneficial to all.

It should be prepared for by prayer for light, and by examination on the commandments, the precepts of Christ, the duties of our posi tion, the seven capital sins, our habits, and interior dispositions.

Sacramental confession is the specific for mortal sins. It is the life preserver after shipwreck.

It is the invigorating tonic for the struggling and weak hearted. It is the protecting wing of safety to the tempted. It is the renewal of energy to the running athlete. It is the perpetual application of the cleansing of the Precious Blood. It is Christ's hand stretched forth to heal and to hold, that nothing pluck us out of it.

Sacramental confession gives to the sinner an opportunity of making

the amende honorable. In the old dispensation his offence was

against the unseen God, now it is against God visible in the person

of Christ. As the sin is now against the Man Christ Jesus the acknowledgment

of the fault is made in the presence of the priest who represents Him. On the part of Christ it gives Him the welcome opportunity of exercis

ing the right bought by His Passion to pardon and save. In the Eucharist, Christ feeds the just, in Penance He ministers to the

sinful. The Sacred Heart rejoices at every application of the

Precious Blood.

It should be resorted to immediately after a fall into any mortal or

grievous sin. God who has promised pardon to sin has promised no morrow to the

sinner's delay. It should be used in our last illness and the priest is to urge the sick

man to it where it is possible. Confession should be resorted to before receiving baptism, orders,

confirmation, unction, entering into matrimony, that these sacra

ments be received by us in a state of grace. It is not necessary before every Eucharist, and its frequency is regu

lated by the individual's needs. As absolution is inherent in the priesthood, the privilege of resorting

to it is the right of every layman.

I2O

ABANDONMENT AND REPARATION

CONFESSION. ABANDONMENT AND REPARATION

§3

ABANDON MENT AND REPARATION.

Abandonment.

Reparation.

Confession should be accompanied by a sincere purpose in re spect of all mortal sins to sin no more. This belongs to all solid repentance.

It must not be a simple desire or wish, which says "I would like," or "I hope so," which is not a real determination of the will

It must be accompanied with a firm resolve to flee all proxi mate occasions of sin, to part with all dangerous companion ships and friendships, even to the causing of pain.

The resolution must be made not trusting in our own strength, but with humble reliance on the grace of God.

God often leaves souls to fall into sin until they have learned they cannot conquer by their own strength and are grounded in humility.

In respect of venial sins there should be the resolve to watch against them and to cultivate the opposite virtues.

Sincerity is shown in faithfulness in self-examination and prayer, vigilance over oneself and against the dangers to which one is exposed, fidelity in corresponding to the inspira tions of the Spirit, promptitude in resisting the solicitations of sensual desire, and the flying from dangerous surroundings and temptations.

Abandonment means not only leaving sin, but girding our selves with the whole Christian armour to fight against it.

True repentance requires so faT as is in our power reparation done to God, and of the wrong done our neighbour.

Reparation due our neighbour consists in restoring, as far as we are able, the property or honour of which one has deprived him, in repairing any damage our faults have occasioned him, in making reparation for any scandal.

The reparation done to God is manifested in our desire to do something in forwarding His interests, through His Church, and for our fellows.

This double satisfaction rests on the natural right that all in jury done another should be repaired by him who is the cause of it; and upon the natural desire to express our gratitude to God for His merciful forgiveness, by doing something for Him.

It is part of the loving goodness of God that He allows us to break our box of alabaster over His feet, or consecrate our selves to His service.

The penances imposed by the confessor are an integral part of the sacrament, are obligatory, and should be accomplished as soon as practicable.

But they are now usually light, and the loving heart will seek to show its love and thankfulness in fuller degree.

"Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation." "Behold what carefulness is wrought in you, what clearing of your selves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what revenge."

HOLY ORDERS

121

CHAPTER VII. SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS.

HOLY ORDERS.

Mediatorial nature.

Repre sentative character.

Its Function.

Founder.

Extension.

Three Orders.

Priesthood.

Ordination.

"Necessity.

f Necessity. ARTICLE I. FUNCTION. •< Nature.

^Character.

'The sacrament of orders is the Generator and Preserver of the spiritual

pastorate. It conserves the spiritual paternity and government of the Christian

family. It is the means by which Christ extends the operation of His threefold

office of prophet, priest, and King. It is by the ministry that Christ makes known the Gospel offer of

salvation, and "stretches forth His Hand to heal" through the

sacraments. It is thus necessary that the Church should have a ministry through

whom it officially acts and performs its functions. It is so rieedful that if the ministry should cease, the integrity of the

Church of Christ on earth would come to an end.

The nature of the ministry is found in the mediatorial character of Christ and the Church.

The mediatorial office is to be seen in God and in natural and revealed religion.

In God the only Begotten Son is the mediating One through whom the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father returns to its source.

In the order of nature, the material world is the medium through which God bestows gifts, and man by using them for His glory communes with God.

In revealed religion, the patriarchal family, the Jewish and the Chris tian churches are mediating institutions by which their members receive divine gifts and through co-operation with which they in crease in union with God.

Christ as the God-Man is the Mediator between God and man, through whom gifts pass from God to man, and through whom man passes to God.

The Christian ministry, as necessary for the performance of the func tions of the Church, in and by whom we are united to Christ, par takes of this mediatorial character.

The mediatorial nature of the Christian ministry implies its double representative character, of Christ and the Church.

It is an order of men. Angels might have been sent to teach us but they would not have been representatives of us or of Christ.

As representatives, the ministers must not be self-chosen, but authori tatively set apart, chosen by man, but ordained by God.

The principle of representation is seen in the natural order by the father, the chief and the king ; in the revealed order in the tribe of Levi, the family of Aaron, and the high priest.

As the whole Church is a body of kings and priests, the ministers representing the body are kings and priests and with special offices and powers.

The Christian ministers are "Messengers," i.e., Apostles, are "Am bassadors" representing Christ the King. They are "Watchmen " exercising a prophetical office (Ez. iii. 17), and "Stewards" having a mediatorial priestly character, who receive and offer gifts and dues to the over-lord and dispense His gifts to His people.

122

THE FOUNDER OF HOLY ORDERS

ARTICLE II. HOLY ORDERS.

/ The Founder.

\Christ and the Holy Spirit.

THE

FOUNDER OF HOLY ORDERS.

'Jesus Christ

and the

Holy

Ghost.

It is not by the body of the faithful nor by those chosen by them for that purpose, that the ministerial powers with which Christ endowed His Church are exercised.

Our Lord instituted His ministry and gave it authority to act in His Name in preaching, baptising, absolving, blessing, ordaining, and offering the holy memorial sacrifice.

It is a common error to suppose He did this at any one time or by one act. Following the divine method it was a gradual and progressive work.

He first called the disciples and chose from them twelve, and named the

twelve "Apostles" at the time of their appointment.

•

He gave them a special training and enlightenment, and commissioned them for their work by gradually associating them with His own three fold office.

It has been stated how during His prophetical ministration He bade them go and teach, and gave them the power to decide on matters of doctrine and discipline. "He that heareth you heareth Me." "What soever ye bind on earth, is bound in heaven."

When as priest offering up the Holy Sacrifice, He bade them "Do this in remembrance of Me," and associated them with His priesthood.

When He had risen in the exercise of His Kingship He bade them make subjects of the Kingdom by baptism, and to restore, those who had by sin forfeited their citizenship, by absolution.

These and all the powers belonging to their ministry He gave one by one, accompanying the commission by some significant action.

But as yet they were not consecrated or empowered. It was not until the day of Pentecost that their consecration was completed.

Then the Holy Ghost, with the outward signs of wind and fire, descended on the collected Church and made it a living spiritual organism and the Apostles became "able ministers of the word," able to do what they had been commissioned to do.

The case of S. Matthias is in conformity with this order. The Apostles, not having received the Holy Ghost, are unable to consecrate one to fill the vacancy. They do not even choose or select. As Christ had called them so must Christ show whom He had chosen, which He did.

Then Matthias being thus called and associated with the twelve was able to be consecrated with the gift of the Holy Ghost along with the others, and was made an Apostle.

The continued presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Church is witnessed by the cases of Paul and Barnabas. Christ personally ap pears and calls Paul. The Holy Spirit audibly manifests Himself at Antioch. Then Paul and Barnabas being called, one directly by Christ, the other through the Church, receive through the ministra tion of the prophets the consecrating gift of the Spirit. Lastly they are received into the Apostles' fellowship, and "are numbered with the Apostles."

123

ARTICLE III. THE EXTENSION OF Cits Necessity.

HOLY ORDERS. \ The Apostolic Agency.

THE EX TENSION

OF THE

MINISTRY.

'Its necessity.

The

Apostolic .agency.

'It was necessary, if Christ was not speedily to return, that the Church should be provided with officers and a ministry.

The Apostles, filled with the wonders of the Ascension and Pentecost, looked for an early Advent and had to be educated in respect of this ministerial need.

It may be that our Lord gave them some instructions concerning this during the forty days when He spoke to them of the things concern ing the Kingdom of God.

But Christ dwelt in the Church, and the Holy Spirit gave, in the cases of Paul and Barnabas, a demonstration of His will regarding the ex tension of the ministry.

It was to be made (Christ acting through the Apostles) in the same way as they themselves had been made Apostles.

Its members were to be called out by authority from the body of disci ples, and be brought by the Apostles into official union with them selves and Christ.

The ordained would receive from Christ the gift of the Holy Ghost for the performance of their office and grace for themselves.

The Apostles were thus enlightened internally by the Holy Spirit and forced to act by outward, providentially ordered, circumstances.

Under this inspiration and guidance the one Apostolic Order, in its per manent qualities, unfolded itself in the triple form of bishop, priest,

. and deacon.

•"The Twelve" stand in their relation to Christ and the Church in a

double capacity or twofold order. They had a unique office in bearing witness to the resurrection and

were endowed for their foundation office with special gifts of

inspiration and the working of miracles.

The Twelve were the foundation stones laid on Christ, the underlying

Rock. S. Peter was "first," Cephas a rock himself, the key-bearer,

door opener, shepherdising the sheep of the old dispensation and

lambs of the new into the kingdom. But this order of foundation stones and foundation laying could have

no successor. The Twelve, however, had been united to the three offices of Christ

which were to be extended and were necessarily transmissible. No one had in this respect received any gift or office different from any

other, consequently there was nothing in the Apostolate, as it was to

be continued, from which an earthly head could be developed. They had as a collegiate body received mission and jurisdiction over

all nations, which each possessed in joint tenancy with the others. The Apostles by sending Peter and John to Samaria, and dividing the

jurisdiction of the Gentiles and Jews between S. Peter and S. Paul,

showed that S. Peter did not exercise jurisdiction over them, but they

over Peter. As united to the three offices of Christ, they ordained and gathered

others into different degrees of authority with themselves and the

ministry of Christ in whose Name they acted.

By this union, holy orders are given by their successors; and the only .. authorised ministry of Christ is an Apostolically derived one.

THE THREE ORDERS

ARTICLE IV. THE THREE ORDERS.

( Difference between Priesthood and J ^e Prophetical Office. I Evolution of the Three Orders. Their Final Establishment.

THE

THREE

ORDERS.

Prophets

and

Priests.

Deacons,

Presbyters,

Bishops.

Final establish ment.

Holy Scripture reveals two kinds of God's ministers: — priests and prophets.

In the first dispensation the priests were designated by belonging to a special tribe or family. They formed an order by virtue of their natural descent and ordination.

The Christian priest is not an ambassador of the unseen God, but of the God-Man, Christ Jesus; and must therefore receive his cre dentials from Him, as from any earthly monarch, by visible means and through the established agency.

The prophets are not an "order," but persons, who have received spir itual gifts for a special work.

If the sectarian preachers claim to be prophets then they should not be ordained ; if ministers of Christ, they could only be such by being ordained by "the Order" Christ authorised to act for Him.

Very gradually the Apostolic order unfolded itself.

It is helpful to see how God has used the quarrels within the Church, as

well as the persecutions from without, to forward the divine purposes. The disputes between the Jewish and Gentile converts forced the

Apostles to ask for relief in serving tables. The disciples selected seven persons out of their number, and the

Apostles ordained them by prayer and laying on of their hands. This ordination shows it was not to a mere eleemosynary or charity

distributing office to which they were appointed. The Apostles, possibly building wiser than they knew, under God, laid

the foundation of the ripened order of deacons. Some are found preaching and baptising, doing evangelistic work, and

finally a recognised order of the ministry is formed. Phil. i. 2. The necessity of leaving some one in charge of newly formed congrega tions, led S. Paul and S. Barnabas to ordain elders in every church.

Acts xiv. 4 ; Titus i. 3. We have this order recognised by the church and sitting in council with

the Apostles at Jerusalem. The growing needs of the church and possibly troubles at Corinth led

eventually to the establishment of a higher order representative of

the Apostles. Timothy and Titus are ordained and made Apostolic delegates with

the power of ordination. No other order save the Apostles and

those who represent them are recorded as having this power. While the Apostles were for the most part engaged in missionary labours,

the church at Jerusalem was presided over by a locally resident

Apostle, S. James.

At Jerusalem we find the three orders established and as the church extended throughout the world, it conformed itself to the type given in the Mother Church.

The second order that was called presbyters and once overseers, finally became known by the former one; and the title overseer or bishop, when the original order of the Twelve had passed, was given to those in the first rank of the ministry.

THE PRIESTHOOD

C The Priesthood of the Church. ARTICLE V. < The Priestly Title of its Ministers. \^Their Priestly Powers.

THE PRIEST HOOD.

'The Church's priest hood.

The

priestly

title.

The

priestly

powers.

'By baptism we are made partakers of the nature of Christ, by confirma tion of his offices ; and so the Church is possessed of a mediatorial and priestly character.

All its members, by virtue of the laying on of hands in confirmation, are united to Jesus Christ as the High Priest; and so, subordinate to Him, minister unto God.

As Israel was made a consecrated people, and a kingdom of priests, so by Jesus Christ was His Church made a body of "Kings and Priests unto God."

The ministers, taken from this body, have as members of it a priestly char acter, and being ordained to perform priestly functions form a sacerdotal order.

The title of "priest" in the old Hebrew sense of "hierus" or a sacrificing priest is given in the prophecies of the Bible to the ministers of the Chris tian Church.

Speaking of the Christian dispensation it was declared that then God would take of the Gentiles "for priests and Levites." Is. Ixvi. 21. The same title of "priest " is used in the New Testament (Rev. i. 6), and as requir ing a priesthood there were to be Christian altars. Heb. xiii. 10.

S. Paul in dwelling on the grace given him as an Apostle uses throughout terms of priesthood. Rom. xv. 16. The grace has been given him that he as a priest (Aeiroupyov), offering up (tepeyoiWa) a sacrificial offering (Trpoarifiopa) , it might be acceptable.

At the beginning the title of presbyter or elder was taken. This title was not taken from the synagogue, for that elder did, by virtue of his office, neither preach, nor pray, nor sing.

The priesthood was changed (Heb. vii. 12), and a new name was taken to discriminate between the old and new priesthood and to mark the new one's connection with Christ.

For the old priesthood was only a temporary and substituted one. It was temporarily accepted in place of the first born or "elder," to whom by right of birth the priesthood belonged.

It was to pass away when the true First-born and our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, should come. Hence the name elder or presbyter marks the higher character of the Christian priesthood by its connection with Jesus Christ.

The universal use of the word "priest " as the shortened form of presbyter, with the ancient sense attached to it, shows that the church has always believed she possessed a sacerdotal priesthood.

The question is, however, not one of names but of powers, and as the Chris tian minister has given him the same powers as the Jewish priest, only in a higher degree, it is thereby demonstrated that he has a priestly character.

The eight powers of the Jewish priest were to admit to the covenant, to teach (Mai. ii. 7); to judge (Deu. xix. 17); to rule (Deu. xvii. 11, 12); to reconcile (Lev. xiv. 11); to offer sacrifice (Lev. ix. 7); to intercede (Num. xvi. 46-48) ; to bless (Num. vi. 23-26).

The Christian ministry likewise was to admit by baptism, to teach authori tatively (S. Matt, xviii. 20); to judge (S. Matt. xvii. 17); to rule (S. Matt, xviii. 18) ; to reconcile (S. John xx. 22, 23) ; to do or offer (S. Luke xxii. 19; Heb. xiii. 10); to intercede (S. James v. 14, 15); to bless (II Cor. xiii. 14).

ORDINATION

ORDINATION.

The

minister.

The subject.

("Minister of the Sacrament. ARTICLE VI. THE GIVING OF HOLY ORDERS. •< Its Subject.

[^ The Matter and Form.

In the Holy Scriptures we find no ordinations conferred save by the Apostles or those who had been invested with their authority.

This power resides by the Church's custom exclusively in the bishops. "What is there," says S. Jerome, "which a bishop can do and a priest cannot do, save ordaining."

The Anglican Church does not recognise any other orders except those of Episcopal ordination. It receives Roman priests with out further ordination, but requires it of all sectarian ministers.

The bishops who ordain should, according to the ancient canons, have jurisdiction.

The subject should be of the male sex, a member of the Christian

body by baptism, without which the ordination is invalid. He should be of the age required by the canons, and exempt or

dispensed from canonical irregularity. He should have a vocation to the ecclesiastical state and a sufficient

knowledge of the Catholic faith and a determination to teach it. He pledges himself to the reverent offering of the Holy Sacrifice as

provided for; to the daily recitation of the divine office; and to

holiness of life.

•There has been much discussion concerning the matter and form of the sacrament.

It has been admitted that the words "Receive the Holy Ghost" are not of ancient use, being unknown for nigh twelve hundred years, and the delivery of the chalice and paten introduced about the tenth century, though once so stated by papal authority, is not of the matter.

It is now held that all that is required is the imposition of the bishop's hands with prayer, and a definite expression of the order to be conveyed.

The Anglican Church at the revisal of her ordinal deliberately pre served the three sacred orders and officially stated in its preface her intention that these orders as they had been should be "con tinued."

This official and explicit statement of her purpose and intention in the revisal must govern the ordinal's construction. It was to make more clear, full, and scriptural the conveyance of the sacerdotium.

Thus in the ordination of a priest, the candidate being a deacon, is presented to the bishop "to receive the order of priesthood."

The bishop after prayer ordained him (according to the form used in Elizabeth's time), laying his hands upon his head and saying, "Receive the Holy Ghost, whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained ; and be thou a faithful dispenser of the word of God and of His holy sacraments."

There is thus the gift of the Holy Ghost given for the office, desig nated by the special work which only a priest can perform; and also the whole range of priestly power in the delivering the word and administering all "the sacraments," which includes the offer ing of the Holy Sacrifice.

For the further manifestation of her mind, the Anglican Church in her last revision in 1662 added the words, "Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God."

The supernatural effects wrought by her sacraments prove that

• the Anglican Church is possessed of the priesthood.

Matter

and

form.

MARRIAGE AS A SACRAMENT

127

CHAPTER VIII. HOLY MATRIMONY

ARTICLE I. ITS SACRAMENTAL CHARACTER, f ^firmed by the Father,

[^ oon, and Holy Ghost.

	"Established
	by the •< Father
	and
	the Son.
MARRIAGE
AS A •<
SACRAMENT.

'Holy matrimony is a sacrament ordained by God. It has the distinguished honour of having all three persons of the

Blessed Trinity severally engaged in its formation. The Holy Father created human nature in the dual form of man

and woman. "Male and female created He them." The sex appetite for the extension of the race, like hunger and

thirst given for the sustaining of the body, is the gift and creation

of God and as such is in itself good. "And God saw everything

that He had made, and behold it was very good." All the appetites when properly used are thus well pleasing to God

and to His glory. "Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye

do, do all to the glory of God." The transmission of life is honourable among all men and child

bearing is meritorious. Marriage was established in man's state of innocence, and by it

God made a revelation of His own image. In the man as the beginning and source, and the partner begotten

from the man, and the offspring proceeding from the twain, we

have a type of the Trinity.

On this marital union, as an outward sign of Himself, God the - Father gave His blessing. It was a sacrament of nature.

"Jesus Christ had not to establish matrimony as He did the other sacraments, because it had already been founded.

He republished its sacramental character and restored it in the Christian system to its original dignity.

Christ not only reasserted its divine institution, but by virtue of His divine authority, its elevation as a divine mystery of the gospel.

By the miracle wrought at the marriage feast He showed how all former ordinances, including marriage, were changed into those of a higher degree.

He begins His miracles at a marriage to teach that the Incarnation was itself a marriage between the human and divine natures and also that He was in the new creation the bridegroom and the Church the bride.

In the union of the man and woman whom God declared as mak ing one flesh, there is an outward sign of the dual natures in the Incarnation united in oneness, which Christian marriage in the Lord symbolises.

In the Christian marriage there is also set forth the mystery of the union between Christ and His Church on which a blessing or grace is given. It is thus both republished and elevated by Christ into a gospel sacrament.

For holy Thou indeed dost prove

The marriage vow to be, Proclaiming it a type of love

Between the Church and Thee.

128 THE CHARACTER OF HOLY MATRIMONY

The sacramental character of Holy Matrimony as a state signifi cant of a mystery and coupled with a grace is revealed by the Holy Ghost.

The mystery it signifies is the union of Christ and His Church. Thus it is written, "the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the Church."

"As the Church is subject unto Christ so let wives be to their own husbands." "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the As re- Church and gave Himself for it."

vealed by I For this cause shall they be joined and "they two shall be one the Holy flesh." "This is a great mystery (or sacrament) but I speak

Ghost. concerning Christ and the Church."

The elevation of matrimony under the gospel implies, as setting

forth a divine mystery, a gift of grace.

Also in the Holy Scriptures the respective duties of each partner are given, and where duties are assigned grace is vouchsafed for their performance.

There are thus the divine authors, the symbolical state, the grace of the sacrament, and the increase of sanctifying grace bestowed for its duties.

ARTICLE II. THE CHARACTER OF Cits Monogamy.

HOLY MATRIMONY. \Its Indissolubility.

	IIS monogamous-: character.
THE
CHARACTER < OF HOLY
MATRIMONY.
	Its indis-
	w solubility.

The divinely ordained monogamous character is set forth by the

primal creation of but one man and one woman as its subjects. When man was in his fallen state, polygamy was practised by those

in recognised covenant with God. God did not allow of polygamy as something wrong in itself, which

it was not, but as allowable to those who had not the Christian

grace requisite for holy matrimony. When matrimony was restored by Christ to its original institution,

and grace was given, polygamy was no longer allowable, but a

sin. As the Christian sacrament was to bear witness to Christ and His

Church, there could be only one bridegroom and one bride.

Second marriages were, however, conceded by the Church.

The bond of Christian marriage is indissoluble save by death. The duties of parents to children and of children to parents in old age is a reason of nature for this.

The welfare of the state which is based on that of the permanence of the family also demands it. Either party may, however, sepa rate from the other on the grounds of adultery, peril of life, grave causes of a religious or moral character, but neither may re marry.

For the cases of the allowed remarriage of converts and mixed marriages (I Cor. vii. 12-16) see Watkins on Matrimony, pages 438-590.

One religious reason why the innocent party in the case of the un faithfulness of the other cannot marry is that if the bond is broken for one it is for both; and also because Christian mar riage is to bear witness to the indissolubility of Christ and the Church.

Every Christian must bear witness to the faith by his life. If a great calamity has befallen him he must bear it, knowing God's grace will be sufficient for him.

HOLY MATRIMONY

129

ARTICLE III. HOLY MATRIMONY.

°* and

	^Three kinds.
HOLY MATRIMONY. "*	Matter and •< form.
	Its blessings.
	Its ^obstacles.

-Marriage in Holy Scripture is found in the state of man's innocence, in his unregenerate condition, and in his restored Christian state.

In Christianity it has somewhat different significations and regula tions in regard to different classes of persons.

The marriage of the baptised laity symbolises the union of Christ and His Church, and is therefore indissoluble.

The marriage of the clergy was to symbolise the oneness of the bride groom and the bride, and therefore if married they were to be but 'once married. See Liddon's notes on S. Timothy iii.

This seems to be the meaning of the texts, "a bishop," "the deacons," "must be the husbands of one wife."

For the same rule is also given for the "widows " who are to be placed on the Church's roll. She "must have been the wife of one man."

There is also the mystical marriage of those consecrated as religious to the Lord, by which the all-sufficiency of the eternal Bridegroom and His grace is declared.

In regard to the matter and form there has been much dispute. The matter may be regarded as the baptised persons who seek to be united in marriage.

The form, the actual union by mutual consent, whereby their wills or souls are united, and the consummation by which their bodies are united.

The priest's blessing is not of the essence of the sacrament, but con veys a grace for the performance of its duties.

Matrimony is not only a sacrament, but a sacramental state.

It sanctifies the sources of natural life. It is the consecration of natural paternity. It purifies the affections of the family. It gives to the married an increase of sanctifying grace.

It imposes the duties of mutual love and conjugal fidelity, of mutual support and modesty, of the Christian education of their children.

The obstacles, "diriment," i.e., annulative or prohibitive, are:

Those which make the supposed marriage null and void, from rela tionship forbidden by God,

Where there was an essential error of the person by fraud or other wise, but not of the condition, wealth, or social position of the party,

Where there was a lack of free consent, which might be even if the words of the marriage service were uttered,

Where violence was resorted to, or the person in grave fear, Where there was a defect of legal or canonical age, Where one party was insane or physically incompetent.

In order that the marriage be the sacrament of Christian matrimony both parties must be baptised, otherwise the union is not "in the Lord."

9

i3o

HOLY UNCTION

CHAPTER IX. HOLY UNCTION. •

Cits Origin. < Its Nature, [its Effects.

HOLT

UNCTION.

'Its origin.

Its

nature.

Its

effects.

Christ who redeemed both body and soul provided salutary remedies for each against their enemies.

He gave power to His Apostles to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to make men's bodies temples of the Holy Ghost, and so to unite them to Him self that death would have no permanent dominion over them.

The Church's mode of dealing with the sick was formally promulgated by S. James, the presiding Apostle at the Mother Church of Jerusalem.

The Apostolic action was probably forwarded in this as in the case of holy orders, by the circumstances of the primitive church.

The Holy Spirit had endowed it with supernatural gifts and among them were those of healing. In the exercise of this gift it was but natural some disorders and dangers should arise.

For the good order of the Church, the Apostle ruled that the sick were not to send to the persons specially endowed with healing gifts, but to the regularly ordained clergy.

Their ministrations were quite sufficient through their faith as were those of the prophet Elijah.

As the well being of the body is subservient to that of the soul, the firgt step to restoration is its healing. This the lay, faith or miracle healer, could not do as the priest could.

The sick was therefore to make first, confession, and become reconciled and at peace with God. Then prayer and anointing with oil were to follow ; and if God so willed, the sick would recover ; if not, receiving spiritual benefit he would depart in peace.

'Regarded as a sacrament its suggestion is found in the action of Christ in sending out the Apostles with power against man's enemies.

"And they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them."

The sacrament has been known by many names, viz.: the "Oil of Bless ing," the "Oil of Prayer," "The Holy Oil," "The Extreme or Last Unction."

It not being in the nature of a public office nor necessary for salvation, it does not find place in early apologies, etc., but is witnessed to inci dentally by some of the fathers and by the concurrent custom of East- em and Western Christendom.

The oil is blest by a bishop in the West ; by several priests, or, if necessary, by one in the Eastern church.

'The effects are forgiveness, if aught remains unforgiven ; the restoration to health if it is for the soul's good or the benefit of Holy Church; the support of the soul in its passing; the establishing it in its hold on Christ ; the giving it a victory over its last temptations ; the casting out all fear by love; and bestowing a final adornment for presentation at the Court of the Great King.

It is a sacrament that is to be administered when the illness is of a serious, or likely to be permanent, character and may be repeated.

THE EUCHARIST IN ITSELF

CHAPTER X. THE HOLY EUCHARIST: A SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENT

ARTICLE I. THE EUCHARIST IN ITSELF,

Its Pre-eminence.

The Dignity of the Sacrament.

THE

EUCHARIST IN ITSELF.

'Reason for its pre eminence.

Its great dignity.

The Holy Eucharist is the most august and sublime of all the sacra ments.

It is the greatest and most venerated in that it contains not only grace, but Jesus Christ Himself, the Author and Source of all grace.

In the other sacraments grace is bestowed in the act by which it is communicated to the receiver, but the Holy Eucharist requires by the previous consecration of the elements the presence of Christ before the communion.

The Article XXVIII of the Anglican Church declares that the Body of Christ is "given" and "taken" in the sacrament, and in order to be "given and taken " it must be there before it is received.

The sacrament is thus most eminent because it contains Christ in a way that the other sacraments do not.

By the act of baptism the child receives Christ's nature and is born anew. By the consecration of the elements Christ is made present objectively to all, whether they receive or not.

It is of the highest dignity because it is the end of all the others which are related to it either by way of preparation or preservation of its fruits.

It is the most extensive and noble of sacraments as the one in which the whole church unites in making it the chief act of worship.

It is the sacrament by which Christ reveals the institutional and churchly character of His Religion, for the meal in common de notes a Christian family.

It is the sacrament most blessed as securing to the Church Militant the veiled but real presence of Christ as her head.

It is the sacrament of prodigies, whereby the supernatural power of Christ over nature, in making the elements subordinate to His word, is seen abiding in the Church.

It is the sacrament which testifies to the emancipation of Christ's risen and ascended Body from the control of earthly conditions, and gives to the faithful a test of faith.

It is a sacrament which marks God's progressive action over crea tion, in creation, and by creation. He spoke and the world was. He entered it and the "Word was made flesh." He completed it

saying, "This is My Body."

Christ thus provided the means by which man could be elevated by a new union with Himself, and so creation became complete.

It is the sacrament par excellence of the Love of Jesus Christ, and it is a sacrament so marked by the love, goodness, compassion, hiddenness,and beauty of God, that God only could have invented it.

It is the sacrament of mysterious depths, baffling to human reason, .. yet ever unfolding its meaning and powers to devotion and faith.

THE HOLY EUCHARIST

ARTICLE II. THE HOLY EUCHARIST.

Its Author.

Its Threefold Character.

	rite author, Jesus Christ.
THE HOLY < EUCHARIST.
	Its three fold ^character.

'Our Lord Jesus Christ is the author and promulgator of this Holy

Sacrament.

Every circumstance connected with it declares its solemn and mys terious character. The selection of the large, furnished, upper room is not without

significance. Christ may be born in a cave, but nothing less than

the best in Jerusalem will do for this solemn service and worship

of God. The miraculous means by which it was taken, building it by no

earthly means or sound of axe or hammer, was fitting to the first

Christian temple. S. Luke xxii. 10. The ceremonial of the Paschal Supper was a fitting liturgical prelude

to a partaking of "the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the

world." The symbolical action of our Lord laying aside His upper garment,

typical of His laying aside His glory, and His girding Himself with

the towel, significant of our humanity, betokened His priestly

vesting. He washed the feet of the Apostles, signifying their association with

His priesthood, and wiped them with the towel wherewith He was

girded. He then fulfils the type of the Melchisedecian priesthood, and takes

the bread and wine, and voluntarily offers Himself up to God for

man's redemption. He took bread and gave thanks and brake it saying, "This is my

Body which is being given for you. This cup is the new covenant

in my Blood."

It was something the Church was to continue, offering it as a memo- - rial sacrifice, and identifying herself with it by feeding upon it.

"The Holy Eucharist is a witness, a sacrifice, and sacrament.

In addition to the written and preached word, Christ made the sacra ments living witnesses of Himself.

The Holy Eucharist is a witness to the Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection. It bears witness to the Incarnation by the words, "This is My Body," which declare that God took our nature upon Him and wears it now.

It witnesses to the death of Christ by the breaking of the Bread and separate consecration of the cup setting forth the outpoured Blood.

It declares His Resurrection as it extends and applies Christ's life to men and transforms them by it. It is a living witness of His resurrection.

It is the sacrificial action by which the Church pleads the death of Christ, and in union with which the Church, offers up herself to God.

The Eucharist is the sacrament which brings to us the Body and Blood of Christ which are "spirit and are life," and so have a quickening power.

It is the Tree of Life planted in the paradise of the Church, concern ing which the forbidding command "not to eat" is now reversed, and we are bidden "to eat and live."

THE HOLY EUCHARIST

i33

THE HOLY EUCHARIST (continued).

Its definition.

fits Definition.

ARTICLE III. THE HOLY EUCHARIST. •< Matter and Form.

[^ Objections.

'It is the gift of Christ to His Church to be a Witness, Sacrifice, and Sacrament.

It is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Himself that He volun tarily and formally made in the upper chamber; of the one offered with blood shedding on the Cross; and identical with the presentation of Himself in heaven as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

It is the sacrament of the living Bread. Earthly bread we incor porate into our bodies, the heavenly Bread incorporates us into Himself.

In baptism we are forgiven, receive a seminal principle of the In carnate nature, are born into the Kingdom of Light. In the Eucharist, Christ gathers us up into union with His glorified Body and prepares us for the beatific vision.

In the Eucharist the Body and Blood of Christ are given us under the outward form of bread and wine.

The Body and Blood are inclusive of Christ's whole humanity and the divine nature united to it.

It is the whole Christ that is present and is given under each kind. "He that eateth Me shall live by Me." "Whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord." R. V.

The matter is wheaten bread and the fermented juice of the grape. The bread may be leavened or unleavened. It is of custom to mingle a little water with the wine, in memory of the blood and water from Christ's side, and symbolical of the union of Christ and His Church.

The form is the words by which the consecration is effected, and are those of the Lord, "This is My Body," "This is My Blood."

The invocation of the Holy Spirit after the consecration as in the Eastern and American liturgies, testifies as in the latter by the use of the word "gifts" in addition to that of "creatures," that a change has taken place and prays that receiving them accord ing to "Christ's holy institution we may be partakers of His most Blessed Body and Blood."

It is objected that Christ is at "God's Right Hand." It is by rea son of this that His Body is not under the dominion of locality.

It is objected that Christ has a body and so cannot be in two or more places at the same time.

Sacramental presence, however, takes place in the sphere of the spiritual body of Christ and material laws do not apply to it.

Christ's spiritual body is not ubiquitous, but by reason of its union with the divine nature it can appear in the sphere of the new creation when and where He wills.

Thus S. Stephen saw in vision Christ at the right hand of God, but without a local movement He could appear to S. Paul in the roadway.

Another objection is to the change effected, by which what were bread and wine only become the Body and Blood of Christ.

But modern science having done away with what were formerly called "primary elements" and resolved all matter into a mani festation of electric force, recognises the change of one element into another, as a part of the system of natural law.

Matter and form.

Objections.

DIFFERENT EUCHARISTIC DOCTRINES

( The Different Doctrines.

ARTICLE IV. THE HOLY EUCHARIST. < Protestant and Catholic.

and Calvin.

§1

DIFFERENT

EUCHARISTIC

DOCTRINES.

'The doctrine of Zwingli.

The

Calvinistic

doctrine.

The loss of the episcopate and priesthood by sectarians brought necessarily with it the loss of a valid sacrament and so of the Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the sacrament.

We find this testified to by their devotional literature, and their formularies and practice.

They naturally repudiate the Church's doctrine of the objective Presence, to which their own Christian consciousness does not bear witness, and receive in their pews or sitting about a table.

The doctrine of Zwingli, which is now that of most sectarians, re gards the elements as mere symbols of a Thing absent.

This theory contradicts Christ's words, making Hun say "This Bread is a symbol of My Body," not "This," which He held in His Hand, "is My Body."

It makes the sacrament not an "effectual" sign of grace as the Articles affirm, but only a badge or token or empty sign, which the Anglican Articles say it is not.

The doctrine of Calvin regards the elements as empty but holy signs, on receiving which the heart of the elect believer, being lifted up by faith to Christ in heaven, communicates with Him.

This theory involves a dual action, one on earth and one in heaven. The believing soul as if transported into heaven in a super natural manner is made partaker of Christ.

So it would follow if there were no true believers present there would be no sacrament.

It is thus only a spiritual presence in the heart of the receiver, presence is called theologically a virtual presence.

This

A somewhat similar doctrine misinterprets our Lord's words of institution. It makes them read, "This Bread eaten with faith will be accompanied by the gift of My Body."

It has the advantage from a protestant view-point of doing away with the need of a ministry, and, save for good order, a layman might make a communion by himself out of common bread.

It is open to philosophical objections more difficult of explana tion than those which identify Christ's Body and Blood with the consecrated elements.

It does not satisfy a scholarly interpretation of Christ's words. Neither of these forms of Protestantism produces the same high type of sacrifice or saintliness of character seen in the Catholic L Church.

DIFFERENT EUGHARISTIG DOCTRINES i35

THE HOLY EUCHARIST.

The Lutheran Doctrine. The Catholic Doctrine.

§ 2

DIFFERENT EUCHARISTIC DOCTRINES (continued).

'The Lutheran doctrine.

The

Catholic

.doctrine.

The Lutheran doctrine repudiates the empty symbolism of Zwingli and avoids the dualism of Calvinism. It asserts the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

It does this by holding that the Body and Blood of Christ are united to the elements, " by a marriage of the heavenly and earthly substances."

But it is inconsistent with the immemorial and universal tradition and consciousness of Catholic Christendom which has ever re garded the act of consecration as determining the bread and wine to be the Body and Blood of Christ.

For Lutheranism holds that Christ is not present apart from the act of reception.

It declares the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood but ex plains it theologically away. It argues that as a principle of God's life is behind our natural food, so we are made partakers of Christ as the principle of our new creation.

The presence is only a principle of Christ's nature that we receive. "It is the power of Christ's resurrection that is in the bread we eat."

It substitutes for Christ's words, "This is My Body," the words, " This is Bread and Christ's Body."

The Catholic doctrine takes our Lord's words literally and with out change or alteration.

Our Lord did not say "This Bread is My Body." If He had named two things one might have been taken as a representative of the other.

Of that He held in His Hand He said, "This is My Body."

There is this difference between a man's naming a thing and God's naming it\ Man by naming anything puts it in a class of things. When God names anything it becomes what He names it.

Bread and Wine therefore become His Body and Blood. And since Christ Himself is present His act of condescension calls for an act of worshipful and adoring recognition on our part.

The objective reality of the sensible species, which popular error has tended to deny, and which formed a difficulty for Catholic theologians in the later middle ages who were under the influence of nominalism, is now admitted.

In the Latin Communion the doctrine of the Eucharistic conver sion is designated by the term transubstantiation.

In popular apprehension this is conceived of as transaccidentation. The consecrated elements being regarded as accidents of our Lord.

It is this conception that overthrows the nature of the Sacrament and is condemned by our Articles.

In the Eastern Church the metabola or change is called from esse, transessentialation.

In the Anglican communion, the reality of the change is regarded, as it is throughout the Catholic Church.

In America in 1837 Dr. S. F. Jarvis, Oriental professor, wrote: It was allowable to hold "the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacra ment rising to a mysterious change, by which the very elements themselves, though they retain their original properties, are cor porally united with or transformed into Christ."

i36 TYPES AND USE OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST

ARTICLE V. THE HOLY EUCHARIST.

'Its Anticipations in the

Old Testament. Its Use in the New.

	^Tvpes in the Old
	Testament.
TYPES AND
USE OF
THE HOLY "*
EUCHARIST.
	The
	use in ^
	the New
	^Testament.

The Holy Eucharist is an extension of the Incarnation. It would be strange if so wonderful a gospel gift should not be an ticipated in the Old Testament by type and figure.

So we find it there in the Bible, which is the dear word of God, under many forms.

The Tree of Life in Eden tells of it as the Tree of Life whose leaves

are for the healing of the nations. The manna by which the Israelites were fed, is accepted as a type

of the Eucharist, as our supernatural and supersubstantial food

from heaven.

The food that God supplied Elijah foretold the supernatural pro vision of the Eucharist. It is God's wonderful gift.

The unwasteable measure of meal and cruse of oil declared the Gospel's inexhaustible sacramental supply so long as the Church shall last.

The food, in the strength of which the prophet went forty days, wit nessed to the sacrament's sustaining power, in the higher walks of the spiritual life.

The twelve loaves on the holy table made known the mystery of the ^ Church's oneness as one bread.

'That the Eucharist was instituted by Christ to be continued and to

be the chief act of Christian worship is seen by the practice of the

Apostles. They continued the breaking of the bread in the house

or upper chamber daily at Jerusalem. It was the regular Lord's

day service. Acts xx. 7. In the Epistles its sacrificial character penetrates the whole idea of

practical Christianity. ' S. Paul represents himself as the hiero-

phant (AciToupyov) of Jesus Christ, that the offering up (wpoox^opa)

of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy

Ghost. He desires Christians, in words intimately identified with the liturgy,

to present themselves "a living sacrifice to God," and reminds

them that they have an "altar." He refers to the Eucharist, when opposing the use of an unknown

tongue, and asks, "how shall the unlearned say Amen" at the

special giving of thanks. He offers the Holy Eucharist at Troas and raises Eutychus from

seeming death, a symbol of the Eucharist's life-giving power to

body as well as soul. He rebukes the Corinthian^ for not discerning the Lord's Body and

says such are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. He bids them know that the punishment of sickness and death which

has befallen some of them was a consequence of their unworthy

reception. He withholds further action until, with probable conference with the

other Apostles, he will take "order" for such a reverent celebration

as will protect it from future profanation.

After this we find celebrations taking place after the Agape, or any - meal, practically ceasing.

CHRIST TEACHES THE REAL PRESENCE i37

ARTICLE VI. THE HOLY EUCHARIST.

( Tht ^^ °f Christ ^ the Real Presence.

§ i

CHRIST TEACHES THE REAL PRESENCE.

'The synoptic gospels contain the account of the Institution of the Blessed Sacra ment. The Fourth Gospel supplements this by giving the teaching of our Lord concerning it.

His discourse, found in the sixth chapter of S. John, is divided into two parts. The first part ending probably with an appropriate peroration at verse 47.

In the first part God the Father is the donor, "My Father giveth you," etc. The gift is Christ, " who cometh down from heaven." The duty inculcated is "faith." " He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life."

In the second part Christ is the donor, "The Bread that I will give," etc. The gift is Christ's Flesh and Blood. "The Bread that I will give is My Flesh." The duty is not faith, but reception. "Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood ye have no life in you."

One logical error of those who deny the Real Presence lies in not discerning the two parts of the discourse, and confusing the duty of believing in Christ with that of receiving Him in the sacrament.

Another arises from not noticing the difference between two figures of speech used by Christ in the different parts of the discourse.

In the first He speaks of Himself as the Bread of Life and says, "He that cometh to Me shall never hunger and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst." He here uses a familiar metaphor of wisdom under the form of food.

In the second part, He does not use this metaphor, but says, he "that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood." The idea is an entirely different one. To eat the flesh of a person signified metaphorically to do him an injury, and as the phrase could not have this meaning it must have the literal one.

The test of the meaning of our Lord's words must be, how He allowed them to be understood by His hearers.

They understood Him literally, and said "how can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

Our Lord's method in meeting like objections when He had been misunder stood, was to explain His meaning. Thus, when He said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," and they said, "if he sleeps he shall do well," our Lord corrected them and said Lazarus is dead.

But when our Lord's hearers took His words literally and He meant to be so taken, His custom was to meet their objections by a repetition of His statement. When the Jews objected to the saying "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day," He repeated it, "Verily, verily I say unto you before Abraham was, I am."

So when they objected to His giving them His flesh to eat, He did not explain away His words but said, "Verily, verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood ye have no life in you."

He appealed to the coming fact of His ascension, in proof that He was not a common man, and said, "flesh," i.e., common flesh like yours, would profit nothing, but the things, TO. p^ara, I have been speaking to you about, viz., " My Body and My Blood, they are life giving," "for they are spirit and life."

i38 INSTITUTION DECLARES THE REAL PRESENCE

THE HOLY EUCHARIST.

by the Institution.

§2

THE IN STITUTION DECLARES -< THE REAL PRESENCE.

'The words of the Institution are recorded in S. Matthew, S. Mark, S. Luke, and were specially revealed to S. Paul. I Cor. xi. 23-25.

Our Lord took bread and blessed and broke it and said, "This is My Body," and in like manner the chalice, saying, "This is My Blood of the new Covenant."

The Catholic Church, believing in the omnipotence of Christ, has ever taken these words in their plain literal sense, and her spiritual consciousness declares them to be true.

The sectarians whose consciousness declares they have only symbols, which is all they do have, explain the words of Christ as meaning*this bread represents My Body.

They cite two classes of texts in favour of this interpretation, neither of which are parallel and so do not apply.

The texts are such as these: "The seven good kine are seven years." Gen. xii. 26; "The ten horns are ten kingdoms," Dan. vii. 24; "The field is the world," "The good seed are the children of the kingdom," S. Matt. xiii. 38, 39; "The rock was Christ," I Cor. v. 4; "These are the two covenants," Gal. iv. 24.

In these cases the word "is" means represent. But none of these instances are similar to the words of Institution. They are all explanations of visions, or para bles, or an allegory.

In Genesis Joseph interprets the King's vision. The explanation by Daniel is that the ten horns signify ten kingdoms. Our Lord speaks in parables and then points out their meaning. The field is the world. S. Paul declares he is relating an allegory when he says the Rock was Christ. So none of these examples apply.

In another class of cases: "I am the Door," "I am the Vine," Christ is not saying that He represents the Door or Vine, or that any particular door represents Him. But is saying that He is the living way and that His Humanity is the stock with which we must be united. The Protestant exegesis thus fails.

On the other hand, the condemnation by S. Paul of the unworthy receivers deter mines beyond reasonable question the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood.

For He declares that he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself if he discern not the Body. If the Lord's Body was not there, he would not, by not discerning, sin against it.

The whole transaction of consecration and communion takes place not in the natural world but in the supernatual spiritual organism of which Christ and the faithful are members.

Christ ever stands in the midst of His Body, the Church. He does not have to move to be present. In the Eucharist He does by His priests what He did when, being visible, He took the elements and by His word incorporated them into His own person and made them His Body and Blood.

And on Him, thus veiled, we feed and to Him give the outward expression of our devotion and love.

THE FATHERS WITNESS TO REAL PRESENCE i39

ARTICLE VII. THE HOLY EUCHARIST. /r*f R™\ Presence guessed in

V. the Patnstic Writings.

§ 1 THE FATHERS WITNESS

TO THE

REAL PRESENCE.

'Along with differences of expression and some variations on points of undefined doctrine there is an agreement by the fathers on the fact of the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament.

The presence is so supernatural and may be used in so many ways in illustration or defense of other truths, that "expressions may be found concerning it quite orthodox in one sense and false in another." Wilhelm and Scannel, Vol. II. 4, 4.

There is, for instance, no change wrought apparent to the senses. Hence in refer ence to this it might be said that no change takes place.

S. Gregory of Nyasa, however, says, "The bread sanctified by the word of God is transmade (or changed) into the Body of God."

After the consecration the outward sign of bread remains and so the sacrament may still be, as in the Roman liturgy, called "bread," just as the blind man whose eyes were opened was still called blind.

As our Lord's Body is present under the species, the species are properly called the sign or symbol of His Body. Thus S. Clement of Alex calls the wine "the mystic symbol of the Holy Blood." The word symbol then meaning "that which is," as well as "represents."

Our Lord's body was visible during His ministry. In the sacrament it is not dis cernible by the senses and His Body is now in a glorified and spiritual condition, so He is said to be spiritually present because spiritually discerned.

Throughout the Fathers there is a concurrent agreement on certain points, sacrament is not a mere figure of Christ's absent body.

The

"Christ did not say this is a figure, but this is My Body," Theophylact, Matt. xxvi. 26. S. Cyril uses the word figure but says "In the figure of bread is given thee His Body, and in the figure of wine His Blood." Magnes, Bishop, 4th Century. "For it is not a type of the Body, nor a type of the Blood, as some have blindly and idly said, but is in truth the Body and Blood of Christ."

The Body and Blood is verily and indeed present as the "Res sacramenti," or Thing the sign signifies.

Implying this as the common belief, S. Ignatius (ad Sym.) rebukes the Docetic heretics for not believing "that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ."

"We have been taught," wrote S. Justin Martyr, "that the food" of the Eucharist "is both the flesh and blood" of Jesus.

The Fathers held that Christ's Body was present by the act of consecration and "The Bread is changed by a wonderful operation." Theophylact. "Before the consecration it is called another Thing; after consecration it is called blood." S. Ambrose.

A full catena of authority may be found in Pusey on the Real Presence, D. Stone on "The Holy Communion," Wilhelm and Scannel's Catholic Theology, Fran- zelin, etc.

THE FATHERS

THE HOLT EUCHARIST

TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS

THE FATHERS.

We condense the following from Dr. Pusey, England's great theologian and saint:

"The Apostles received of the Lord this doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ ? The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ ? He does not say, 'a communion,' or 'communication,' or what men will of a 'grace,' or a 'virtue,' or a 'power,' or an 'efficacy,' or an 'influence' from Christ's absent Body in heaven." Nor is the fact of such influence from our Lord's All-Holy Body in heaven ever in the remotest degree hinted at. " To us He hath given the communion of His Body, not in heaven as yet, but here on earth. The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ ? "

'This doctrine of the Real Presence all who know ever so little of the ancient Fathers and Councils, know to have been taught from the first."

' Minds, the most simple or the most philosophical ; the female Martyrs of Persia, or what are known as the philosophic Fathers; minds wholly practical, as Ter- tullian or S. Cyprian, S. Firmilian, S. Pacian or S. Julius, or those boldly imagina tive, as Origen ; or poetic minds, as S. Ephrem or S. Isaac or S. Paulinus ; fathers who most use a figurative interpretation of the Old Testament, as S. Ambrose, or such as, like S. Chrysostom, from their practical character and the exigencies of the Churches in which they preached, confined themselves most scrupulously to the letter; mystical writers, as S. Macarius; ascetics, as Mark the hermit, Apollo or the Abbot Esaias ; writers in other respects opposed to each other ; the friends of Origen, as S. Didymus, or his opponents, as Theophilus of Alexandria and S. Epiphanius; or again, S. Cyril of Alexandria and Theodoret; heretics, even when the truth condemned their heresy, as the Arian Eusebius and Theo- dorus Heracleotes, or defenders of the faith, as S. Athanasius; Apollinarius or S. Chrysostom who wrote against him; Nestorius or S. Cyril of Alexandria, all agree in one consentient explanation of our Lord's words, 'This is My Body,' 'This is My Blood.' Whence this harmony, but that One Spirit attuned all the various minds in the one body into one, so that even the heretics were slow herein to depart from it ? "

'However different the occasions may be, upon which the truth is spoken of, in whatever variety of ways it may be mentioned, the truth itself is one and the same, one uniform, simple consentient truth; that what is consecrated upon the altars for us to receive, what, under the outward elements, is there present for us to re ceive, is the Body and Blood of Christ; by receiving which the faithful in the Lord's Supper do verily and indeed take and receive the Body and Blood of Christ ; by presuming to approach which the wicked become 'guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord;' i.e., become guilty of a guilt like theirs who laid hands on His Divine Person, while yet in the Flesh among us, or who shed His All-Holy Blood."

THE HOLY EUCHARIST A SACRIFICE

ARTICLE VIII.

THE HOLY EUCHARIST AS SACRIFICE.

:The Nature of Sacrifice. Its Presence in the Gospel System.

	rThe nature of •* sacrifice.
§ 1 THE HOLY EUCHARIST A SACRIFICE.
	Its
	presence in the •< Gospel system.

*

'The offering of sacrifices, either because man feared or desired to hold communion with God, is a natural instinct.

It has been the ordained means by which man in all stages of his spiritual progress worshipped God.

In its revealed forms it has been expressive of the offerer's spiritual condition and attitude towards God, and of God's attitude to him.

It has always involved, which has by most theologians been overlooked, a reciprocal action — man's gift to God and God's returning gift to man.

In its essence sacrifice is thus the means of a real communion of man with his Maker.

It therefore is to be found in all dispensations : — in Paradise, under the law, and in the gospel.

In a state of innocence man offers, by abstaining from its fruit, the tree which symbolises his pure and innocent condition, and God in return gives to him the tree of life.

When sin has brought him under the dominion of death, then, as acknowledging his guilty condition, the life of the animal is taken, God giving back, by His acceptance of the sacrifice and man's partaking, an assurance of his covenanted blessing.

When man has become restored in Christ, he presents Christ in the Eucharist, and pleads His death, and God gives back Christ to the offerer and he feeds on His Body and Blood.

There is thus no complete religion without worship by way of sacrifice.

Just as it was prophesied there should be "priests" in the gospel dispensation (Is. Ixvi. 21), so it was foretold there should be "sacri fice," Mai. i. 10, 11, in its external worship.

The prophet Malachi having declared the future abolition of the old order ("neither will I accept an offering at your hand"), declares "that everywhere among the Gentiles incense and a pure oblation shall be offered unto my name."

In the lately discovered book of sub- Apostolic times, "The teach ing of the Twelve Apostles," the Eucharist is referred to as a sacrifice and this prophecy of Malachi applied to it.

If sacrifice demands an altar, and an altar implies sacrifice, Chris tians have a sacrifice, for they are told they "have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle."

This could not mean the cross, which was something past, for it refers to a present possession. Moreover, of the cross one can not "eat," but of an altar one can.

Again, Christians were forbidden to eat of meats offered in sacrifice on heathen altars, because they had altars of their own.

As the Jewish people rejecting the Messiah lost their temple wor ship, priesthood, and sacrifice, so the sectarians rejecting the church have lost the same and retained only a synagogue worship.

THE EUGHARISTIG SACRIFICE INSTITUTED

THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE.

l^utedby Christ. and How.

THE

EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE INSTI TUTED.

"Insti tuted by Christ.

When

and

how.

Sacrifice is the law of man's spiritual life. It is the establishment of a reciprocal action between God and man.

Christ as the representative of the race offers Himself to God, and God gives Him back to man.

The Church offers herself up to God in union with her Head and God gives Him back to her to be her life.

Unworthy to offer independently anything of his own, the individual Christian offers himself to God in Christ and is identified with Christ and accepted in Him.

Christ crucified is the living way, united to whom man is accepted, redeemed, and finally, perfected, attains to glory.

To leave to His church the means by which it might be united to Himself, Christ instituted the Holy Communion which was both a sacrament and sacrifice.

'In ancient sacrifices the victim was offered by means of bread and wine. The bread was broken and sprinkled with the wine on the head of the victim while alive.

This done the sacrifice was considered to be duly offered so far as concerned the gift and its acceptance.

With this and deeper meaning our Lord took the bread and blessed and broke it and said, "This is My Body which is given for you," "This is My Blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you."

Thus our Lord voluntarily consummated the oblation of Himself by the unbloody but real offering and sacrifice of Himself.

Had His purpose only been to leave a sacrament of Himself on which we might feed, it might have been given under one kind.

But by the consecration of each kind separately, He set forth His death and sacrifice, by the consecration of His body and then of His blood.

By the Word, the elements become not only His Body but are His Body "broken," and the cup is His Blood "poured out."

The sacrifice of Himself is thus voluntarily manifested in the mystical shedding of the upper chamber; is made with actual blood shed ding on the cross ; is consummated by the presentation of the blood, which has passed through death, in heaven. It is all one trans action, parts of one sacrifice.

In the upper chamber Christ is, as the true Paschal Lamb, the sacri fice which delivers His people from the bondage of Satan and death.

On the cross, He fulfils the sacrifice of the day of atonement, and rec onciles God and Humanity, and makes God and man at one.

In heaven, He, as the Lamb and High Priest, presents Himself and completes His sacrificial action, and is the offering of the Church , of the redeemed, and an object of worship.

THE EUGHARISTIG SACRIFICE

Its Relation to the Offering in Heaven and

on the Cross. CONSIDERED IN •< Its Prefigurement by the Paschal Lamb,

and the Cross by the Day of Atonement. The Eucharist a Proper Sacrifice.

§3 THE

EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE

IN ITS

RELATION.

'To the Heavenly Presenta tion and Calvary.

As related to the Paschal Lamb and Day of Atonement.

Its

efficacy.

Our Lord lays aside none of His offices. He is ever the King, Prophet, and High Priest. In glory He is seen arrayed in priestly vestments, and as the Lamb that had been slain.

The crucified, risen, and glorified body of Christ is the same body ; and that in the sacrament is identical with It.

The Lord began the formal offering of Himself voluntarily in the upper chamber. It was followed by the actual slaying of the victim on Calvary. It was completed by the presentation of Himself in glory.

The subject of the Eucharistic sacrifice is one with that in heaven, and represents and pleads that of Calvary.

"At the first Eucharist there was present the true Paschal Lamb, by feeding on whom the Apostles were united to Christ, and de livered from the bondage of sin and death.

Each succeeding Eucharist, unlike the annual Jewish Passover which was a typical representative of the original lamb, has Christ as really present as at the first celebration.

The Jewish nation was, as a token of its covenanted relation with God sprinkled with the blood of sacrifice, and this was renewed year by year on the Day of Atonement.

Every year the Jewish nation as a nation had to be reconciled to God, and until this was done the daily sacrifice could not be offered. The Day of Atonement renewed the daily sacrifices.

In like manner Christ made an atonement for humanity. He did not thereby do away with sacrifice, but gave to His Church the power to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice which takes the place of the sacrifices of the law.

By His offering on Calvary Christ redeemed the world. Its merits cannot be increased nor the act renewed.

The Anglican Church along with the whole of Catholic Christen dom holds that the Eucharist is a sacrifice. It sets forth the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is done by the breaking of the bread and the separate consecration of each of the ele ments.

It is a service ordained by Christ, by which the Church pleads by act the merits of Christ, as she does in word in her prayers.

It is thus a sacrifice, in which the Church presents Christ and her self in Christ; and pleads for all, the living and the dead, "that we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His passion."

THE HOLY EUCHARIST AS A SACRAMENT

	'Its
	purpose.
-	Its
	effects.
THE
HOLY
EUCHARIST •<
AS A
SACRAMENT
	The
	character
	of the
	union.
	Obliga- x ^tions.

THE HOLY EUCHARIST AS A SACRAMENT

Cits Purpose.

ARTICLE IX. THE EUCHARIST A SACRAMENT. < r. JJe .

] Its Character.

\^Its Obligations.

The Eucharist is a sacrifice and a feast upon it. It is first an offering made to God, and then God's gift to us.

This truth is taught by our Lord who said, "My Flesh is meat indeed, My Blood is drink indeed." "Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath eternal life."

It was manifested by its institution under the forms of bread and wine which are the means of ordinary nourishment.

It was obviously thus given to furnish spiritual nourishment to the .. body and soul.

'It benefits the body by implanting in it the principle of its glorious resurrection and future transformation.

It increases more potently than the other sacraments, sanctifying grace.

It supports the spiritual life, cleanses the soul, develops the charity which unites us to God.

It fortifies the soul against temptations, and as forgiven and borne with by God, enables us to forgive and bear with others.

It transforms us by the infusion of Christ's virtues, calming the pas sions, and making peace to rule in our hearts.

It gives a sense of freedom and rest, a joyful contentment of soul, and some thirst for sacrifice.

-It has, moreover, its own peculiar gift of a special union with our Lord.

'We are partakers of Christ's nature by baptism, are made members of His body, are united to Him by the Holy Ghost.

We are in Christ and Christ in us. "My Father will love Him and we will come unto Him and make our abode with Him."

In the Eucharist Christ is sacramentally present so long as the species remain unchanged and is for that time specially present with us.

He imparts thereby to our bodies and souls special gifts and graces, and transmits the virtues of His soul to ours.

The soul thus united to Christ can say, "Not I live, but Christ liveth in me."

The union of all the members in Christ gives to the Church an organic unity which cannot be broken.

.It is a fulfilment of the prayer "that they may be one, as we are one."

It is necessary, to receive worthily, that one should be in a state of grace.

To receive beneficially, one should come prepared and with devotion. To grow in grace, one should receive regularly and often.

To come, unless invalided by sickness or infirmity, conforming to the Church's custom of fasting.

PRAYER IN ITSELF

CHAPTER XI

Cits Definition.

ARTICLE I. PRAYER. •< Advantages. ^Purposes.

PRAYER

IN

ITSELF.

"Its definition.

Advantages.

Purposes.

Prayer is the act of a rational and spiritual nature communing with

God.

"God is man's old home," from whose eternity we come. It is a natural instinct, expressive of man's dependent nature and his

filial relation to God. ' Its form may vary. It may be silent or vocal. It may be in thought

or action. In its comprehensiveness it can invest with communing power every

action, the resistance of temptation, the bearing of sorrow and pain,

and can make life a prayer of good works.

It is, the Fathers have said, the ascent of the soul to God. It is the lift ing up of heart and mind to Him. It is communion with God by

love. It is thus like the chariot of fire bearing the soul Godward. It is like

Jacob's ladder on which messages descend from God to man.

By the practice of prayer we come to know God, just as living and con versing daily with a friend we come to know him.

Habitual prayer preserves us in our true attitude of constant depend ence and self-surrender to God.

Its constant use keeps up the wires of communication with God so likely to be thrown down by storm or neglect.

By it we place ourselves at God's disposal and enable Him to work effectively through us.

It secures to us God's providential protection and brings us the strength of daily manna for our heavenward way.

The purposes for which the soul comes before God are revealed by the

fourfold character of the ordained Jewish sacrifices. Man owes to God as the sovereign of the universe, an allegiance as his

Maker which expresses itself in acts of submissive adoration. "O

come let us worship and fall down and prostrate ourselves before the

Lord our Maker." Man is a dependent creature and for all the gifts of nature and grace

owes the good God heartfelt thanksgiving. "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." God has rescued man from death by the sacrifice of Calvary and man

must unite himself with it by act and prayerful self-surrender. "God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus

Christ." God has made His giving dependent largely on our asking. We are,

for the aversion of evils and obtaining goods, to seek them from His

Fatherly Hand, who knows how to give good gifts to them that ask

Him. "Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find; knock and

it shall be opened unto you." Prayer may be addressed to any one of the persons of the Blessed

Trinity, as we prayerfully energise in union with God, moving about

in Him with childlike familiarity, but all prayer has for its object the

One God.

10

i46 NECESSITY AND EFFICACY OF PRAYER

ARTICLE II. NECESSITY AND EFFICACY OF PRAYER

	^Necessity
	on man's •<
	part.
	On the
	part of •< God.
NECESSITY
AND EFFICACY
OF PRAYER
	And
	^efficacy.

The necessity of prayer is founded on an universal instinct in man's nature.

"The general and perpetual voice of men," says Hooker, "is the sen tence of God Himself."

Man's misery engulfed in sin and its consequences makes prayer for help necessary.

Grace is necessary for man's spiritual life as air or water to his natural one, and prayer is thus necessary for its use and increase.

It is necessary that man understand and feel his misery and sinfulness and turn in prayer to God for deliverance.

Consequently prayer, which is a confession of man's impuissance and his heart's desire, is necessary for his salvation. "Watch and pray."

God, apart from the inceptive sufficient grace given to all, grants His

gifts and grace on the condition of their being asked for. As the divine Master of His gifts, He rightfully grants them on the

conditions His wisdom exacts. Prayer He requires because it fits us to receive His gifts, keeps us

humble, encourages intercourse, develops love. He enforces prayer by way of command, by promises, by example, by

blessing. Therefore He makes it a matter of divine precept which involves an

obligation and a sin if we omit it. "Call upon Me and I will an- ^ swer thee." Ter. xxxiii. 3. "After this manner pray ye."

The efficacy of prayer is assured by the all powerfulness of God who can do all He wishes, by His infinite bounty which wishes all for our good, by His promises to hear and answer prayer.

Prayer enables God to act, by putting ourselves at His disposal; it moves Him to do so; it obtains His benediction, the graces asked for, and in some way is always answered.

He discerns the harmony or disagreement of our petitions with His designs, the nature of our requests, and our motives in asking.

Disposing all things to His glory and our salvation, He knows what is best for us, at what time, under what circumstances, and in what measure.

Moreover, all Christian prayers pass to God through Christ, who changes them, since we ask ever in accordance with God's will, and then makes them His own.

The efficacy of prayer in respect of man is seen in the transforming influence it has on his life. We become like that we love and have intercourse with.

Prayer also increases sanctifying grace, and if habitual secures us in final perseverance.

Its efficacy with God depends on the state of mind in which we pray, the motives influencing us, and the mode of asking.

Christians pray effectively, for our prayers pass through Christ and are presented by Him. But merely to name Christ in prayer is not to pray "in His Name." To do this we must be baptised into Him, and pray in the way He has ordered, and by His authority.

Seeing then we have a great high priest, let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, and "all things whatsoever ye ask in prayer believ ing, ye shall receive." Matt. xxi. 22.

PRAYER COMMENDED

1/17

. TTT „ f The Example of Christ.

ARTICLE III. PRAYER COMMENDED, AND , ^ Cmd&J 4 P v

ITS CONDITIONS.

^

PRAYER COMMENDED. WHEN ACCEPTABLE.

'The example of Christ.

Conditions of acceptable .prayer.

Christ prayed morning and night, at all times and places, be fore miracles, during His visible prophetical and priestly life.

"In the morning rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed."

"He went into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God."

"He departed into a mountain to pray." "He withdrew Him self into the wilderness and prayed."

He prayed before choosing His Apostles, working miracles, raising the dead. "Father, I thank thee that thou heardest Me and I know that Thou hearest Me always."

He prayed at His baptism, and the heavens were opened and God spake, on the Transfiguration Mount, when again God said "This is My Beloved Son," in the temple when the voice of the Father audibly responded to His appeal.

He prayed in His need in the wilderness, and agony in the garden, and angels came to succour Him.

He prayed for the Apostles, and taught them to pray, and He prayed for all mankind, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

Prayer to be acceptable must have for its object things good in themselves; those which will advance Christ's Kingdom or our own sanctification, or, if temporal, that can minister to them.

It should be made in submission to the will of God as to the manner of our petitions being granted.

It should be in union with our Lord Jesus Christ in whom and through whom we pray, united to Him by faith, hope, and charity.

In Faith, believing that "what things soever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them."

In Hope, in trust, and confidence in God's love. " If ye abide in Me ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you."

In Charity with all. "When ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any."

In humility, realising one's unworthiness and nothingness, and as having no claim on God's mercy save through and for the merits of Jesus Christ.

With perseverance that tarries the Lord's leisure and through dryness and desolation of spirit continues to pray. "Though He slay me yet will I trust Him."

1 48

ANSWERS TO PRAYER

ARTICLE IV. ANSWERS RECORDED IN fin the Old and

GOD'S WORD. \ New Testament.

"So Abraham prayed and God healed Abimelech." Gen. xx. 17.

"Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife Rebekah," and "the Lord was entreated of him." Gen. xxv. 21.

Jacob prayed for the Lord's protection and the Lord delivered him from the hand of Esau and brought him to his father's house in peace.

Moses cried unto the Lord, as his hands were held up by Aaron, and Amalek was defeated.

ANSWERS TO PRAYER.

'In

the Old Testament.

In

-the New.

When at Taberah the fire of the Lord burnt the people, Moses prayed unto the Lord and "the fire was quenched."

Samuel's prayer delivered Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Elijah prayed that it might not rain and it rained not by the space of three years and six months.

Elisha and Elijah prayed for restoration to life and life came back to the widow's son, and the child of the widow of Shunem.

Daniel prayed for his people and the angel Gabriel brought the Lord's answer to his petition.

The New Testament begins with the answer made known in the Temple to Zacharias' prayer, and to those of Simeon and Anna.

The pentecostal gift of the Holy Spirit comes after the united ten days' prayer of the Apostles, with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus.

In the selection of one to fill the vacancy in the Apostolate, the eleven prayed, "Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two Thou hast chosen," and the Lord answered the prayer.

The prayer of Stephen, "lay not this sin to their charge," is fol lowed presently by the conversion of Saul.

As Cornelius prays, his prayers and alms come up as a memorial before God, and the Gospel is brought to the Gentiles.

The Church continues in prayer for Peter, and the angel of the Lord is sent to deliver him out of prison.

S. Peter prays and Dorcas is restored to life.

Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God in the prison and the prison doors were opened and the jailor was converted, and all his were baptised.

When Peter and John were come down, they prayed for the Samari tan converts that they might receive the Holy Ghost. And they received the Holy Ghost.

Writing to Philemon S. Paul says, "I trust through your prayers I shall be given unto you."

In the midst of the storm, the angel of God appeared saying, "Fear not, Paul; God hath given thee all them that sail with thee."

PRAYER

1/19

/Objections. Kinds. \^A Life of Prayer.

PRAYER. -<

'Objections to prayer.

Its kinds .and life.

It is objected that prayer of petition is unnecessary because God knows our needs. Prayer includes praise and thanksgiving, and as to our needs, our telling them to God helps us to realise His blessings and prepares us to receive them.

Besides our Father likes His children to tell Him.

We cannot, it is urged, change God's will. We do not seek to change His will, but His will is that His giving depends largely on our asking.

It is said He acts only through laws, so does man who combines and uses them, and God can operate on them just as musicians can make new combinations of sound on the keys of an instrument.

The laws of nature are only the thoughts of God and when it serves His purpose He can control them at His will.

Prayer is a law of the spiritual world, just as gravitation is of the natural one, and God as our Father can grant His children's petitions.

Prayer is either common and public, or private.

It is either vocal, like the recitation of the divine office, or in the form of meditation.

is after two kinds : — the ancient, which proceeds in the order of adoration, thanksgiving, or the more modern form, of pre lude, and exercise of the understanding, examination, will, resolution, and colloquy.

There is the more advanced stage of effective prayer where the soul, laying aside meditation, and filled with a divine love, makes acts of resignation, self-effacement, and love.

God leads some souls on to a further state of prayer in which the soul remains in a passive state, and God effects it rather than it speaks to God.

The soul is like a babe on its mother's breast. We become like little children to enter the kingdom. A higher stage is found in the babes and sucklings, who repose on the divine will and show forth His praise.

Some souls have at times the blessing of the gift of the "prayer of quiet," in which it is so gathered up into union with God that it speaks not, but is held in the embrace of the Spirit.

It would be unspiritual to ask God for further or special tokens of His presence, but as self dies Christ reigns, and the soul becomes Christ led and Spirit controlled.

In its progress, prayer becomes habitual and constant, and the emo tions, the fears, hopes, sorrows, joys, are all brought in union with Christ's interior life.

PrayCTJs life, for it is the inbreathing of God in the soul and the soul's

^ continued repose and ascent in God.

PART THREE

THE PERFECTION ATTAINABLE HERE, AND ITS RULES

AND COUNSELS

PART III

	^Teaching regarding
	The
	necessary < struggle.
	The
THE LIFE AS	Divine •< commands.
THE WORK OF CHRIST
AND OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT.
	Christ our Life.
	The evidence
	of the
	^Holy Spirit.

f Works and Faith. •< Law and Freedom. (.The Christian Ideal.

Justification considered as the basis of our new life.

The Protestant and Catholic Doctrine.

The Efficient, Instrumental, Formal, and Final causes of

Justification.

Conversion of the soul. Its necessity and signs. The battle of Life. Man's nature and his enemies. The Great Issue, Self or God. .The seven capital sins and how to meet them.

The Decalogue. A revelation of God's own life and man's

duties. The Cardinal Virtues. Temperance, Prudence, Justice, and

Fortitude, the basis of a moral life. /??- The Theological Virtues. Faith, Hope, and Charity, the basis

of a supernatural life. <f| The Eight Beatitudes. The revelation of the principles of the

heavenly life of God in the soul. , y.

Christ our Ideal, Exemplar, and Model. Christ the Vine, we the branches. Christ our Life, transmitting His virtues into us. Christ in us and we in Him.

Christ's Sermon on the Mount, revealing the principles of the Christian life.

The Holy Spirit, the indwelling power of our new life.

The Holy Spirit, His gifts, virtues.

The formation of habit by cooperation with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit's fruits. His fragrance and beauty as impart ing a beatitude to virtues.

The three Evangelical Counsels as practised by our Lord and given by Him to those called to embrace them in any special manner.

Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. Reason for their selection by Christ. The training of the Apostles in them.

They in a degree enter into every Christian's life as involved in our baptismal vows, and are the foundation of the conse crated life in religious orders.

Their recognition in the Church and the various forms of this life.

Christian Perfection so far as attainable here. Beatific vision our triumphant end in God.

i54 TRANSITION FROM SECOND TO THIRD PART

CHAPTER I. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

TRANSITION

FROM THE

SECOND

TO THE '

THIRD PART.

Works

and

faith.

Law

and

freedom.

The

Christian

ideal.

Belief in God, Christ, and the Church is insufficient without obe dience.

Man owes God not only the homage of his intelligence, but also the obedience of his will.

Man under grace is freed from an external law whose penalty for any violation is death. Under grace he has a higher spiritual code re vealed by Christ and written by the Spirit in his heart which by the grace given, he can endeavour and which it is his delight to obey.

It is the error of unbelievers that the submission of the intelligence is not necessary and a moral life will suffice.

It is an error of Protestantism that good works are not necessary and that faith will suffice.

The Church has held that works without faith are of no avail, and faith separated from works is dead.

The Gospel did not free its followers from the observance of moral laws by bringing them under the new dispensation.

The Gospel brought deliverance from the penalty of the law and emancipation from the slavery of sin, making us the servants of righteousness.

Christ has made us free, but true freedom co-exists with restraint. It is found in a willing obedience to a law which one knows he can disobey.

The Christian acts in obedience to the Christian code, because now law is not something external to himself, but has become his law : the law of his life, and "disobedience would be torture."

The Gospel sets before us a new ideal of character and life, one per meated with the spirit of Christ.

It reveals virtues that the pagan world at its best had not known. In virtues it despised was seen the highest glory of humanity.

It transforms all actions by the elevation of their motive and endows the commonest with a divine glory.

It strengthens man in all the cardinal virtues and makes his life righteous with the theological ones.

The Christian walks in the sunshine of God's love, and as he looks to Him, the shadows of life's burdens and sorrows fall behind his back.

The Gospel combines in its beauty the love of God with the love of our fellow-men, and the Christian life is one of charity and righteousness.

The third part treats of the new man and how we are gathered into Christ's life and He comes to reign in us.

JUSTIFICATION

i55

CHAPTER II. OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

f The Necessary Struggle.

Justification. CONSIDERED IN I ^ ' .

REFERENCE TO 1 ^fTT' * r v TVie Bottfe o/ Lt/e.

Seven Capital Sins.

C Justification. ARTICLE I. •< General Agreements.

[^Protestant and Catholic Doctrine.

§ 1

JUSTIFICA TION.

General agreements.

Protestant and

Catholic .doctrine.

In order to be justified one must be pardoned and born again

in Christ. We are justified for the sake of His merits and not for our own

works or deservings. It is "the blood of Christ that alone cleanseth from all sins."

It is for His sake we are adopted children of God in Christ. Man is unable to obtain forgiveness or adoption, or without the

grace of God to move himself towards righteousness. Works done from mere natural motives and without grace do

not establish a claim on God nor make men meet to receive

grace. Prevenient grace is given freely without any merit on man's

part, because God would have none to perish. Man has, through assisting grace, the power to accept, or by his

own perverse will is able to reject God and his salvation. It is agreed to by all that we are justified only in Christ by faith,

and not by our own works nor the works of the Law.

The Protestant and Catholic doctrines differ on several points.

The Protestant holds that justification means acquittal, accept ance, pardon; the Catholic holds it is something more; that it is a gift of new life.

The Protestant separates justification from sanctification. The Catholic holds that the act that justifies must also sanctify.

The Protestant believes that the righteousness of Christ is only by a fiction imparted to the believer. The Catholic believes that when God declares one just, He makes him so and His righteousness in a degree is imparted.

The Protestant looks on justification as a finished act. The Catholic as an act involving a gift and a state, capable of progressive increase.

The Protestant formularies teach that Christ's obedience to the moral law is a substitute for ours. The Catholic holds it to be binding and that God has given us grace to fulfil it.

The Protestant holds that faith alone justifies, confining the act of faith to the mind believing, and the heart trusting. The Catholic holds that justifying faith is the action and habit of the whole of man's nature, love involving obedience as well as trust.

The Protestant makes man independent of the church by making faith the instrument. The Catholic makes baptism the instru ment on God's part and faith the receptive action on our

i56

CAUSES OF JUSTIFICATION

f The Causes as Efficient.

rr» /~i T J Instrumental.

THE CAUSES OF JUSTIFICATION. < „

1 Formal.

\^Final, and their Divisions.

§2

CAUSES OF JUSTIFICATION.

The

efficient

cause.

The

instrumental

cause.

The

subjective

cause.

The formal .and final.

The causes of justification may be analysed under three heads : Efficient, Formal, and Final.

The efficient cause is remote or proximate.

As remote, it has its source in the Love and Mercy of God. "Being justified freely by His grace." Rom. iii. 24. "Ac cording to His Mercy He saved us." Titus iii. 5. "God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." S. John iii. 16. "The justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. iii. 16.

As remote in the person -of Jesus Christ, who is the Mediator between God and man ; Who is the propitiation for our sins ; Who is the Lamb of God, the Sin Victim; in Whom we have redemption through His Blood. Through Whom we have now received the reconciliation.

'The proximate cause is, on the part of the Holy Ghost, con sidered on its objective and instrumental side, baptism.

According to His mercy He saved us through the laver of re generation and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Baptism is not only a sign of profession, but of Regeneration or New Birth, whereby as by an instrument "we are grafted into the Church," which is the Body of Christ.

"As many of you as were baptised into Christ did put on Christ." Being baptised into His death "who died for our sins," we are also partakers of His resurrection, "who rose for our justification."

"Even baptism doth now save us, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." By which we receive remission of sins. " One baptism for the remission of sins."

The proximate, subjective, and receptive means of justifica tion is faith.

Man is not justified by the works of the law nor by his own works, but only in Jesus Christ by faith and for His merits.

We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption

that is in Christ Jesus, "apart from the works of the law,"

"by faith." Faith is the eye that sees, the heart that trusts, the hand that

grasps, the action of the whole nature submitting itself to

God. It is "a faith working by love."

This faith is only ideally not practically separable from good works. S. James ii. 22.

("The formal cause of justification is the remission of sins. Rom. J iv. 7.

I The final cause is the immediate gift of the new life and the (^ righteousness that God gives.

CONVERSION

.07

ARTICLE II. CONVERSION.

:its Necessity. The Signs of the Unconverted State. The calls of God.

CONVERSION. .<

Necessity.

Signs of an

unconverted heart.

The calls of God.

-Our Lord who says "Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven" also says, "Ex cept ye be converted, ye shall not enter " into it.

Conversion in case of an adult should take place before his bap tism, as in the instance of Saul.

In case of those baptised in infancy, it takes place after. Some growing up in a course of continuous conversion of being con formed to God, others, and the larger part, needing to be re called after estrangement from Him.

Regeneration and conversion are different acts and both are needed for our salvation.

Many communicants, clergy and laity, live in a self-satisfied state, performing their religious duties perfunctorily, never having been convicted of sin, or realised their lost condition, or ex perienced the work of grace in their souls.

Not a few while outwardly conforming, yet live in the indulgence of secret sins, have hearts set on the world, are full of pride, vanity, envy, dishonesty, untruthfulness, and do not know they are in an unconverted state.

Some signs of which are: the habitual consent to any known sin, the willing resistance to any article of the Catholic faith, a de light in worldly companionships and seeking the world's favour, a neglect to watch over daily and little sins, unfaithfulnesses, insensibility to the sins of omission, and no sorrow because God is injured and grieved by our spiritual condition.

God calls and recalls the soul in many ways. This mostly takes place through bitterness and suffering, as the restoration to life does in the natural order.

Sorrow, sickness, suffering* loss, bereavement are often used by Him to correct our vitiated self-love and love of earthly pleasures.

Sometimes He brings vividly before the soul the terrifying vision of the eternal loss, sometimes the folly and vanity of a worldly life and the heart loathes it, sometimes the soul has a revela tion of forgotten sins or its sinful state so that its salvation seems an impossibility.

In many solemn ways God warns and rouses souls to flee from the wrath to come, or He opens the arms of His Love to them, and they gain the assurance of His acceptance through His es tablished means of grace.

They come to an experimental knowledge of Christ through their surrender of body, mind, and soul to Him.

God not only calls the soul that has strayed back to Him, but calls the soul to turn more and more, by a continual conver sion, to higher degrees of self-surrender and union.

i58

THE BATTLE OF LIFE

ARTICLE III. THE BATTLE OF

CThe Temple.

LIFE. •< „,, e rJ1^^

] The Traitors Within.

[^ The Soul's Allies.

THE BATTLE OF LIFE.

Man's

triple

nature.

The three roots of sin.

Our three enemies and three -allies.

Man's nature is like unto the Temple or Tabernacle with its three divi sions. The open court signifying the body, the Holy Place, the soul ; the Holy of Holies, the Spirit.

Man is thus a triple unit and as such a type of God. This triplicity is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. "May your spirit, soul, and body be preserved entire." I Thess. v. 23.

There is a distinction between the soul and spirit. " For the word of God is piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit." Heb. iv. 12. " Stand fast in one spirit with one soul."

The soul embraces the memory, reasoning faculty, understanding, and other powers by which the mind comes to conclusions more or less probable. 4 ***• *'

The spirit acts in union with God, and so it knows. Man, by the consti tution of his nature, begins by knowing more than his reasoning faculty can prove.

By his union with God, he is conscious of the distinction between right and wrong.

fin each department of his nature there is now a tendency to independence and so in each a root of lawlessness or sin. These three are called "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life."

In the body lies concupiscence or the unruly desires of the wilfully stimu lated appetites.

The soul looking out on the world covets it and all it can give. The Spirit asserting its independence rebels against God's rule.

Thus sensuality, covetousness, and pride are the roots of all sin.

The body rebelling against the soul seeks to draw it down to its animal ism. The soul would enslave the spirit and not allow it to believe but what the reason by itself can prove. The spirit ceases by its pride to be controlled by God.

f We have three enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

The world is whatever comes between any soul and God and hinders their union. The flesh is our bodily appetites rendered unruly by excessive indulgence, the devil is represented by the bad angels.

We have three allies. Opposed to the world there is the kingdom of heaven. Opposed to the flesh, the pure flesh of the Crucified. Op posed to the devil, the hosts of the good angels.

Within the Christian there is the Holy Spirit, the engrafted nature of Christ; the gifts of sacramental grace.

Around him is the watchful providence of God; for him, the prayers of the Church are ever ascending. His are the sure promises of a w covenant-keeping God.

THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS

169

THE ISSUE: SELF OB GOD

ARTICLE IV. THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS

§ 1 THE

SEVEN

CAPITAL

SINS.

"Self-love their source.

Pride.

Envy.

The controlling motive in man is desire or love. "Wheresoever I am

borne, it is love that bears me." It may be directed in one of two ways. Love of God unites us by love

to God and subordinately to our fellow- man. Love of self alienates us from God and humanity and is the parent of

sin, which is developed selfishness. Self-love manifests itself in the seven capital sins, so called not because

they are always mortal, but because they are the heads or causes of

many other sins. They are classified conveniently as Pride, Envy, and Anger, having root

in the spirit ; as Avarice, arising from selfish desires of the soul ; as

Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, the unruly appetites.

"Pride goeth before a fall." It lies in the spirit's love of independence.

It was probably the sin of the fallen angels.

It is unwilling to recognise its created relationship and its dutiful sub ordination to God. It turns from God, or ignores Him, and makes

self its God and is a worshipper of self. It denies its dependence on God for life, for all the gifts of nature, for

health, intellect, position, and regards them as its own and is filled with

self-esteem. It exalts itself above its fellows, being self-conceited, boastful, and ready

to criticise and instruct others, who may be wiser. It loves and seeks for praise, earthly honours, popularity, and is vain of

gifts of birth or accomplishments, or of person. It is moved to the detraction of others, especially towards rivals, and often

with ill-will and injustice. It is presumptuous through trusting in its own strength, seeking and

undertaking what is beyond its capacity. In its developed form, though accompanied with morality, it is the most

deadly of sins, and more likely to ruin man than sins of the flesh.

Envy was the sin which led the chief priests to demand the death of Christ.

"For envy they delivered Him." In its passive form it is sorrow at another's good, disturbing the peace of

the soul. It springs from self-love, for true love envieth not. Charity recognises the

oneness of the Christian family and rejoiceth in another's good. In its passive form of thought it issues in malice, in its active form in . detraction. It is more likely to be exercised against equals and rivals than towards

superiors or inferiors. When a man's position is envied, envy plots to deprive him of it; when

it is influence, envy seeks to diminish it; when it is his abilities, envy

endeavours to frustrate his plans. It takes the forms of emulation, rivalry, jealousy, discontent ; it rejoices

in the failure of rivals, at their misfortunes and even falls. It is the

meanest of all vices, and deadly as it is mean.

i6o

THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS

'Anger may be justifiable. "Be ye angry and sin not." Anger being in some circumstances a "reflection of the justice of God."

The absence of it, in the presence of the violation of the moral law, is a sign of the absence of rational moral judgment.

It is sinful when it proceeds from self-love, because we are wronged, not because a wrong has been done.

It is the spirit that desires another's injury because of the evil done oneself.

It has the element of hatred in it, coupled with the desire of revenge.

It may seek revenge in invoking the law, or taking it into one's own hands, or inflicting an unjustifiable penalty.

It may show itself in thought, or word, or act, and the degree of guilt depends on the manner, matter, and motive of the act.

It often leads to acts of violence, and each spark of anger has murder at heart. It is roused in the unbelieving by the sight of holiness.

It shows itself towards God in cursing and blasphemy, towards men in injuries and detractions, in withdrawing of intercourse, in break ing up of families.

It shows itself in lesser ways by impatience, fretting, sharp words, moods of feeling, by making oneself disagreeable.

It violates the commands and example of Christ, who would have us control our feelings, be charitable in our judgments, forgive our enemies, even as God has for Christ's sake forgiven us.

THE SEVEN CAPITAL

SINS (continued).

Anger.

Covetous- ness.

"He that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them."

Covetousness is an immoderate love of possession. It is also called avarice or the love of money.

The desire we naturally have for things external for use and enjoy ment is natural and not sinful. It is a duty to ourselves and others to accumulate that which will provide for us and them.

Avarice does not consist in our having possessions. The sin of covet- ousness may be committed more readily by the poor than the wealthy.

Our Lord did not condemn any for being rich, but said how hard it was for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom.

For he who trusts in them makes them an Idol, and so covetousness becomes idolatry and it is a sin that increases with age.

It is the craving to accumulate, increase, and hoard for the love of hoarding.

It develops into selfishness, miserliness, neglect of charities, in in justice and overreaching in business, and in hardness of heart and ' dimness of faith.

The folly of the avaricious is not in that he cannot carry his riches with him, but where his treasure is there is also his heart, and the moth and rust of worldliness that preys on his treasure eats up his heart.

THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS

161

The sins of the Flesh: Sloth, Gluttony, and Lust. "When men slept the enemy came and sowed tares." " Slothf ulness casteth into a deep sleep."

Sloth is an inordinate love of ease, bodily and mental.

It shuns exertion and is lazy and procrastinating and the parent of the sins of omission.

§3 THE

SEVEN CAPITAL SINS (concluded).

Sloth.

Gluttony

and

.lust.

It is marked by an indisposition and torpor of mind, and instability and weakness of will.

In temporal affairs, it shuns duties, is idle, works spasmodicaUy and only as obliged.

In spiritual matters, it is indifferent to God's claims, is without regu larity or constancy in its religious exercises and church duties.

If unaroused from its lethargy it becomes lukewarm, and then luke- warmness is succeeded by aversion to sanctity.

It becomes filled with rancour towards counsellors who urge a better and more zealous life.

A spiritual numbness takes possession of the soul. It at last sinks under the temptations of lust. A fatal despair often completes the soul's ruin.

The bodily appetites created by God demand their legitimate and lawful gratification.

It is their inordinate and uncontrolled desires that lead into sinful self-indulgence.

Appetite is inordinate when it violates the control of right reason.

Gluttony is an inordinate excess or greediness in eating or drinking, or an overfastidiousness in the use of food.

It is the use of nourishment without thankfulness to God and with no higher motive than bodily gratification.

It leads to the gross excess of drunkenness, to mere animalism, the loss of health.

It undermines the strength of character, the nobility of man's nature, impairs the spiritual sense, and is mostly accompanied with impurity.

Lust or luxury is the vice opposed to chastity. It is an inordinate

desire of carnal indulgence.

It brings about the ruin of body and soul. It is a defilement of the body which is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

It is in a Christian a personal insult to Christ and the indwelling Spirit.

Its effects are seen in hardness of heart, loss of conscience, reck lessness as to honour, debasement of nature, dimness and loss of faith, and final impenitence.

soul immersed in the body's filth cannot see God. 11

CHAPTER III. THE DIVINE COMMANDS

{The Decalogue. The Cardinal Virtues. The Theological Virtues. The Beatitudes.

§1 THE

DECALOGUE IN GENERAL.

The term signifies the ten (deka) words or laws (logous).

It is a compendium of morals as the creed is of faith and has God for its Author.

A morality so beyond the conceptions of the heathen, so fitted to every condition of man, so universal in its character, has on it the seal of a divine authorship.

It is not like a human code, the invention of a legislature, or such as a parent might devise for his child.

The decalogue is a revelation of God's own Being and man's relation to Him and his fellow-man.

The commandments are radiations from His own nature, and like the rays that stream forth from the sun could not be other than they are.

They are in two tables or divisions. The first four affirm and guard the rights of God, the six other those of man.

In the first God proclaims His deity, His supremacy and unrivaled sovereignty v the awe and worshipful reverence due His Name, the combination of ceaseless activity with absolute rest, that is to be found in Himself and in His immanence and transcendence in creation, and which is copied in the alternate labour and weekly cessation in man.

The second table is the Magna Charta of human rights, guarded first by the sub mission to parental and lawful authority. It declares the inherent sanctity of human life and guards its transmission. It protects the rights of property and character. It reveals the all-satisfying fulness of God while it bans the covet- ousness that leads to the violation of human rights.

Christianity gave to the commandments a wider application, a higher ideal, a nobleness of motive, and brought grace which enabled man to keep them.

The decalogue was not as to the Jew a law externally imposed, but revealed by the spirit within ; as his own law the Christian desires to keep it, and by love the law is fulfilled.

By its observance he escapes evil, secures happiness in this world, and the rewards of eternal life.

It is one sign of the last times, that man not corresponding to the environment of revealed truth, misuses his spiritual nature and the light within him becomes darkness.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT DECLARES

1 63

ARTICLE I. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

"I AM THE LORD THY GOD : THOU SHALT HAVE NONE OTHER GODS BUT ME"

§2

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT DECLARES

God to be a Person.

His

Personal Relation ship.

His

Sovereignty.

Our duty to Him.

God reveals Himself as a personal God. "I am."

The perfection of His nature demands this. The perfectly good would be incomplete without personality.

The human "ego" becomes conscious of itself, not by cogni tion of the "non ego " but by its relation to another ego.

When the grace-illuminated spirit comes to know itself it be comes conscious that it is in union with a Spirit not its own, which is God.

Christian ethics, therefore, are not based on aught save God and man's relation to Him.

'The command not only declares God's personality but His sovereignty. "I am the Lord."

Christian ethics are thus seen to be indissolubly annexed to dogma. Christian morality cannot exist apart from dog matics.

For dogma being rejected, ethics is lacking in its fundamental principle. Submission to God, while dogma accepted by grace, has an ethical value.

God is not only "the Lord," but a Being who stands in a per sonal relationship to each of His creatures. He is "Thy God."

God is a God of Love. Man is bound to Him by the tie of creation, most intimate and loving.

God is immanent in the universe, and where His power is there is He.

It awakens a responsive and ethical acknowledgment, i.e., "He is my God and I am His child."

Love must thus rule our actions, be our motive, and unite us to God.

He in love says, "Thou shalt have no other gods but Me." Which assures us that He alone will be our God.

It also declares that man is a free and not a necessitated being.

There is a sphere within which his power of choice may freely move, for God would not hold him responsible if he were not free to act.

His commandments are not grievous. His grace is sufficient. His providence will protect.

It is thus man's loving duty to believe in Him, to trust Him, to love and obey Him.

To reject is the sin of the foolish man, who to rid himself of his obligations, says, "There is no God," also that of those who deny His transcendence and personality, saying "there is no God without a universe and no universe without a God," or of those who admit His existence but disbelieve His provi dence and revelation.

The Christian knows and loves God and walks with Him. "God only. God always. God in all things," is his motto.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

"Tnou SHALT Nor MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE.

DOWN TO THEM NOB SERVE THEM "

THOU SHALT NOT Bow

	"The unlawful use of
	images.
§3 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.	The lawful use of art
	Latria and . dulia.

'The natural man believed there were gods many, gods of the rivers, of the hills, and plains. All the known forces of nature were per sonified. Images which signified them were set up and worship was offered through them to the non-existing beings or devils.

To appease angry deities human sacrifices were offered and gross orgies and sensualities, the natural accompaniment of cruelty, attended these rites.

God speaking to the race in its childhood and through the Hebrew race condemns this false and sensual idolatry. He forbade the making of any Image representative of a supposed deity to which worship was to be paid.

But since God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, it is not un lawful to make representation of Him, because God has given to us an Image of Himself in Christ.

The heathen philosophers defended themselves from idolatry by the argument that they did not worship the Image, but that which it represented. The answer was that the image was not an authorised one and did not represent anything unless devils.

As the woman, who kneeling touched Christ's garment, was not idolatrous, for she worshipped Him, so the act of adoration given to Christ in the Eucharist is not so, for it has His Person as its object.

As in the old dispensation God enjoined the use of images and pic tures in the Tabernacle, so in the new, Christianity has conse crated art in all its departments to the worship of God.

It was an evil heretical spirit that led to the breaking down of altars, the destroying of the carved work of the sanctuary.

While the worship of "latria," which involves self-surrender, is due to God only, subordinate worship or reverence is due to all holy persons and things.

*

Especially to the Ever Blessed Virgin and to all the Saints and Angels.

The commandment forbids the worship of "latria" to any crea tion of the hands or mind, to any human idol however made.

Men make them idols of causes, plans, beliefs, and they worship them as did the heathen theirs of silver and gold.

The commandment condemns all superstitions or acts of any false religion like spiritualism, or witchcraft, or the artifices of astrol ogy, or fortune telling, or judging by omens.

In religion follow no man. This forbidden principle made the * sects. "Hear the church." So keep from idols.

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

i65

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT "Tnou SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN"

	^Revealed religion.
§4 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.	Its authority.
	Its sanc tions and ^prohibitions.

'The first two commandments having placed God before man, the third advances from what has been called natural to re vealed religion.

If the universe had no God behind or in it, it would be an un- solvable riddle, a hideous nightmare. If God did not make a revelation of Himself it would be an immoral one.

The third commandment bids man take heed unto and reverence the Name of God and the Name of God is a matter of revelation.

The revelation of it has been made progressively and it reveals the Nature of God, now as the-Blessed Three in One.

We are bidden to reverence Him in the way He has revealed Himself, which in the New Dispensation is in Christ and His Church.

The Name of God also signifies the authority of God. To act in His Name is to act in and by His authority.

The commandment is violated by sectarian ministers who proclaim they are acting in His Name when they have re ceived from Christ no authority to do so.

The duty of reverence to God, and all that represents Him, is violated by refusing the worship of the body in kneeling in prayer, or at the Incarnatus in the Creed, or unwilling ness to follow the custom of the Church in making the sign of the cross.

The command inculcates inward reverence along with out ward form, for the form without the inward spirit is a taking- of God's Name in vain.

The Church regards as lawful the taking of oaths required in civil procedures.

It sanctions vows made in baptism, confirmation, marriage, and in the entrance into the religious state.

It forbids all forms of profanity, blasphemy, and cursing. The guilt being mortal or venial according to the advertence and motive of the utterance.

The Christian will avoid all frivolity in the use of Holy Scrip ture and cherish a reverence towards God's word and all holy persons and things.

The irreligious tendency of modern life must be met by an increasing reverence to all that belongs to revealed re ligion.

i66

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

"Six DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR AND DO ALL THAT THOU HAST TO Do.

THOU KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH-DAY "

REMEMBER THAT

§5

THE

FOURTH

COMMANDMENT ^

CONCERNS

WORSHIP.

"It rests on a positive command.

The days change.

Its

memorial

character.

What forbidden and allowed.

'The commandments proceed in order, first God, then revealed religion, and next labour or service and worship.

God being Love, seeks for a manifestation of love in the double way of service and worship.

Man's response of love by way of service and worship strengthens his intellect and will and ennobles his whole nature.

The commandment enforcing a periodic weekly rest protects man from his own greed.

The Sunday rest is "the friend of the poor, and the foe of human selfishness," and so

The rest needed to be enforced by a divine authority. "The Sabbath was made for man."

The commandment reveals the authority of the Church which in the old dispensation so strictly enforced it.

By the observance of the first day of the week, in place of the seventh, the authority of the Christian Church is acknowledged.

The worship commanded has assigned to it a memorial character.

The Jew kept the seventh day as a memorial of the restfulness of God's activity in creation and of his national deliverance from Pharaoh's bondage.

The Christian keeps the first day as a memorial of Christ's resur rection and the gift of the Holy Ghost on the Sunday at Pentecost.

The memorial character of the day extends to the ordained wor ship, which in the Christian dispensation is the memorial sacri fice of the death of Christ.

The element of mystery in the selection of a seventh day is in harmony with the worship of Him, who is the veiled and the unveiled God. See Wordsworth Com. Ex. xx. 10.

The principle of hallowing all the labour of the six days by the special consecration of the seventh to God, is in accord with ~ God's covenanted mercies.

What is now forbidden is the profanation of the day by unneces sary servile labour.

What is allowed is such recreation as shall not turn the soul away from devotion.

What is encouraged is the consecration of the day to worship and rest, and worship by its change from ordinary duties brings a recuperative rest to body and soul.

What is of obligation is the offering by the priest of the Holy Sacrifice and the attendance thereat by the laity.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

167

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

"HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER THAT THY DAYS MAY BE LONG IN THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GlVETH THEE "

§6 THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT.

Its

basis

love.

The

authority a repre sentative one.

The mutual obliga tions.

Christian ethics are based on love. The first table which reveals our duties to God begins with the Love of God to us. "I am thy God."

The second table which safeguards man's rights begins with the God-inspired love of parent and child.

Man is a social being and so needs some form of government, and the principle of family life should extend to the tribal or national family.

The principle of Christian government is authority guarded by love in its administration and by love honoured and accepted.

'Behind this is the fact that all true authority comes from God, and we give honour to parents, pastors, governors, because in their several spheres they represent Him.

There is thus a limitation to their authority. Parents may not command anything contrary to God's law or the teaching of His Church.

Parents cannot forbid their children the reception of the sacra ments of the Church. Bishops only act authoritatively when they are mouthpieces of the collective Episcopate or of the uni versal Church or the explicit utterances of their own Church.

The state cannot set aside a Christian marriage, but as it has the right to enforce life contracts so it should recognise those of matrimony made between churchmen who take each other "Till death do us part."

•As the relation between parents and children, husbands and wives, pastors and people, is a mutual one, so are their duties — on the one hand of love, reverence, and obedience, on the part of children and care for their parents in old age, on the part of parents, of care, education, and moral training.

The laity are to reverence, obey, and care for those set over them in the Lord, and the priests are to care for and feed their flocks, and the bishops to be shepherds not wolves to the clergy and people.

The civil powers should strive for the common good, considering both the rights of the minority and majority, and fulfil the duties of their office with incorruptible justice.

This commandment has a promise annexed, which in the Chris tian dispensation has a wider and more glorious meaning than ^ it assured the Jew.

1 68

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

§7
THE
FIFTH < COMMANDMENT
(continued).	-
	The
	duties of
	parents •« to their
	children.
	How to
	bring ^them up.

THE DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN

It is the duty of parents to provide food and clothing and shelter for their children, such as is suitable to their condition in life.

As Christians they should endeavour to make their home a happy home and make their children respect them and love it.

The home life should be so developed as to bring out its unity of effort, mutual dependence, and love for one another.

Fathers and mothers are to cooperate in the training and edu cation, intellectual and religious, of their children.

They cannot place this duty on others, or perform it by such in junctions, "Do as I say, not as I do." They must be living examples of unselfishness and righteousness.

They should as parents pray together and for their children. Not letting the little ones say their prayers "to them," but to God with them.

They should win the confidence of their children. The children should never be afraid to come and confess to them any wrong they have done or mischief into which they have fallen.

Children should always come to know that their parents love them and are their best friends.

Boys are to be taught to fear nothing but doing what is wrong. Girls, that modesty is the beauty of a woman's character.

It is wise to begin their religious instruction with a knowledge and belief in the angels. If begun with Santa Glaus or fairy tales they come to know they are untrue and so reject all the supernatural.

It is a mistake in. dogmatic teaching to begin with the fall and need of redemption. Best begin with Christ as the Good Shep herd and the means of grace.

The baptised child is a member of Christ. When he needs by sin the saving work of Christ crucified, he will be led to it.

The parent should never chastise a child in anger, but always make him understand that the chastisement is due because God's law is broken.

The child's moral character is to be developed, not on mere enforced obedience to law, but on honour, and honour is developed by trust.

If a boy is found stealing small things he is not necessarily thereby a bad boy. The disposition comes perhaps from some ancestor. So about other sins.

The boy who turns out a good man, may be found to be lying occa sionally. Parents make timid natures lying by threats, and sensual because not parentally warned and instructed.

If clergy desire the salvation of their children, they should never discuss parochial affairs before them, or speak of any of their people's faults, or how badly they themselves have been treated.

THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH COMMANDMENTS 169

THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH COMMANDMENTS

"THOU SHALT NOT KILL." "THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY" THE PROTECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF LIFE

The taking of life is justifiable by the state in the administration

of justice and for the protection of society. It is justifiable in the case of just wars, but all Christians should

labour for peace through arbitration.

It is justifiable in case of self-defense where there is no other ob vious means of self-protection.

It is unlawful to procure the death of a child before birth, but not if to hasten the birth is for the saving of the life of the mother and with baptism of the child.

The command forbids duelling as an unchristian method of de fending one's honour or in settlement of disputes.

The command is broken by unjust wars, by religious persecu tions, by the oppressions of capital, by the cruelties of child labour.

Suicide is a mortal sin, for man has not the right of dominion over his body, but only the use of it.

Those are guilty who refuse medical treatment or continue in practices, like drunkenness, that will bring on death.

Hatred, anger, revenge in the soul, or expressed in words and acts, are mortal or venial according to the degree of provoca tion or manifestation.

One of the most subtle forms of this sin is that of soul-murder, by helping to destroy a person's faith, or keeping another ^ back from a vocation to the priesthood or the religious life.

The seventh commandment guards the sacredness of the trans mission of life.

It forbids all sins against chastity, that with another's wife or husband, which is called adultery, the sin of fornication, which is between unmarried persons, incest, which is the sin be tween relatives, sacrilege when holy persons or places are violated.

One of the worst forms of this sin, is the enticing of others, es pecially the young, into impure actions. Better, said Christ, that a millstone were hanged about the neck of such an one and he were cast into the sea.

One may sin in external acts by looks, touches, or words, by reading bad books, by attending lascivious plays, by im modest dancing.

It is not a sin to be tempted by sensual thoughts, feelings, or sug gestions, and which are not sinful unless consciously and willingly assented unto.

Unless one positively knows they were made a matter of con scious and wilful indulgence, it is best to decide that one is not responsible for them.

"Those dogs keep on barking," said Francis of Sales, "because they were not let into the house."

	"The sixth command- " ment.
§8 THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH COMMAND
MENTS
	The seventh command ment.

i7o THE EIGHTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS

THE EIGHTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL." "Tnou SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS

AGAINST THY NEIGHBOUR"

§9

THE EIGHTH AND NINTH COMMAND MENTS.

Property God's gift.

Sins against it

or against .reputation.

'These commandments are for the protection of man's property and the dearer possession of his reputation.

A noted French philosopher said that "property was theft." God by forbidding theft sanctions thereby the rights of property.

Man has a right to the property he has acquired or inherited, yet it is a limited one, for God gave him the ability or so or dered his birth that he should have it.

Not to recognise God's claim, by charity, by aid to the Church, to one's fellows, is to rob God.

'The commandment is violated by robbery or taking by force, by theft or taking secretly, by borrowing with no intention or reasonable expectation of repayment, by cheating in buying and selling, by appropriating money intrusted to us, by ex tortion and intimidation of the weak, by negligence in the performance of duties.

Also by not restoring things lent, by not paying our just debts, by running in debt needlessly, by not seeking the owner of things found, in keeping of stolen goods, by taking things as perquisites which we know our employers would not allow.

Man should be honest, which in the old English sense meant to act "honourably." Honesty is better than all policy. He who is honest simply because it is the best policy was called by Whately a dishonest man.

And not by act, but by word are we to guard our neighbour's reputation as we would have him guard ours.

Words may wound more than knife or blow. The gift of speech is to be sacredly guarded. Truth is a virtue and lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord.

Men lie to advance their own unlawful gains; lie in their ad vertisements, in their adulterations, their financial schemes, in respect to the credit of their competitors, in the manufac ture of rumours to influence trade.

The commandment is violated by a thousand methods of mis representation, insinuation, detraction, talebearing, and gossip.

But a professional person, a lawyer or priest, is not bound to answer questions respecting clients or penitents of which per sons could and would not rightly expect to be informed. The knowledge had belongs to a different department which neither party has the right to use.

We are bound to not only speak but to act truthfully and to be true.

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

171

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

"Tnou SHALT NOT COVET

	rThe joy ^ of loving God.
§ 10
THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.	-
	The
•	misery of x
	mammon
	^worship.

commandments which have enforced obedience in word and deed have finally to do with motives.

It enters into a region civil law cannot enter. God looks at the heart.

How it is to be directed. The heart can only serve one master. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

When the heart is set on God, it finds its satisfaction in God and rests contentedly in His will.

Even in outward poverty, it finds a joy as it endures and suffers with its Lord.

It learns to trust Him, in sickness and health, in storm and sun shine, in prosperity and adversity.

The heart set on God desires more and more to be united to Him, who is the satisfying fulness of the soul.

The soul thus becomes emancipated from the thraldom of worldly honours, distinctions, wealth, and with face upturned to God, looks down upon the world.

The world cannot buy it or influence it adversely or make it its slave.

'The covetous man is ever a disappointed one; the evil desire ever growing with its goods, never satisfied, ever seeking for more.

The things on which the man sets his heart at last own him, not he them, and the miser is so held in the vise of avarice that he cannot part with wealth.

The evil is admitted to be one of the most prevalent, and the haste and greed for wealth destroys health and honour and the soul.

Children are injured by teaching that worldly success, wealth, civil position are to be made the aim of their lives, and not nobility of character.

The special commendation in the public journals of those who .have, beginning with almost nothing, amassed fortunes, in jures the national life, as if character should not outrank wealth.

The man with the muck rake scrapes a little pile of earth about it, but leaves it when he dies. He who lives for God has an endowment of true riches that will last an eternity.

Our Lord gives the summary of the decalogue: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, ^ and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself."

172

THE CARDINAL VIRTUES

ARTICLE II. THE CARDINAL VIRTUES

{Temperance. Prudence. Justice. Fortitude.

§1

THE CARDINAL

VIRTUES

AS A WHOLE.

'"If a man love righteousness, her labours are virtues; for she teacheth: Temperance and Prudence, Justice and Fortitude."

Virtue is that habit which strengthens man to work righteousness, to do good, and to be good.

The cardinal virtues regulate the conduct of men towards themselves and fellows in the ordinary details of daily life.

They are remedial agencies of the four wounds in our nature caused by disobedience.

The body having suffered from the unrestrained gratification of its appetites, needs to be restrained by Temperance.

The body which has asserted its independence of the soul must be brought under the control of right reason.

The soul has suffered from its asserted independence of the spirit, and being thus deprived of its proper enlightenment is enslaved in its own limitations and ignorance.

The soul needs therefore to be brought back to its normal relation to the spirit and to be guided by a spiritually illuminated Prudence.

The spirit, in its self-assertion and pride of rebellion against the Holy Spirit, must submit to give God the obedience that is His due, and on which our true life depends.

The spirit humbling itself before God must be reestablished in its proper relation to Him in obedience to the law of Justice, which gives to each their due.

These four are known as the cardinal virtues as being the pivots or hinges on which the others turn.

They are called natural virtues because man to a certain degree can acquire them by his own strength, but they may be elevated to a supernatural dignity by grace, which gives supernatural motives and higher ideals and greater strength.

They, properly understood, guide our actions in the right "mean" or middle path between the extremes of excess or deficiency, exaggeration or imper fection.

An act of real virtue must be done understandingly, with freedom of choice, disinterestedly, and upon principle.

For the perfection of any action all four of the cardinal virtues must combine.

It is a mistake therefore to judge of goodness by particular or single virtues, for they may be the result of imitation, or of one's position, or the mask of selfish ends.

"One great vice may be the parent of many virtues." Sermons. The Pharisees.

Mozley, University

The truly good man is one who does right because it is right and whose whole conduct is conformable to that law.

THE VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE

i73

§2 THE

VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE.

'Its definition.

Its

growth.

Its

cultivation.

THE VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE

Temperance signifies moderation. It is the lawful use of the creatures which minister to our bodily sustenance and gratification.

The notion that matter is evil is a Manichean heresy, and that bodily gratification is sinful is a Puritan one. God made His children to enjoy and be happy in body, soul, and spirit.

In different degrees it becomes the soul to rule over the bodily appetites and practise self-denial and self-control. It does this by the help of divine grace, and so becomes the virtue of Temperance.

It takes the forms of abstinence, soberness, and continence, the practice of which are most needed in youth, when the passions and appetites are most demanding.

The first great fight of the Christian is with the body and its natural appetites, for which God has provided deliverance through mar riage, and the discipline of the fasts and abstinences of the Church.

The virtue of Temperance demands for its successful cultivation a rigid discipline like that of a soldier encamped in an enemy's country.

The Christian soul must realise that it stands guard like a chival rous knigh£ over the honour of Christ who dwells within it, and prefer death to yielding to aught that would dishonour Him.

It must cultivate a growing, violent hatred of sin — of all evil thoughts, and of all the occasions of sin, and of all that has led or allured it to evil.

It must discipline itself into the watchfulness of a soldier on picket duty, against the insinuations of the enemy.

It must have a thorough and abiding distrust of self, and its own strength and resolutions, and a daily and hourly active trust in the grace of God. Distrust and Trust are its watchwords.

As the virtue of Temperance grows, it will extend itself to all excesses of bodily indulgence, to overfastidiousness regarding food, to any excesses in drink, to slothfulness in conduct, and all neglect of righteous duties.

It will seek to control its time and social pleasures. The King owns us and all we have is His, and our first duty is to Him.

The means we have, have come from God, and we must spend money on ourselves with measured moderation, and with gen erosity toward God.

The gift of speech ennobles man, and first it is to be used in the worship and praise of God, and governed by the law of charity in respect of persons.

Time is a precious privilege. Only for a few years can we serve God here, with a service which involves some sacrifice. Our position in eternity depends upon our use of time. How we do waste it in newspaper reading, frivolous conversation, idle amusements.

Temperance is moderation in the lawful use of all God's creatures, but is also the virtue that uses all we are and have to the greater glory of God.

Temperance has within itself the spirit of self-denial and sacri fice. It delivers man from animalism and lifts him into the peaceful order and reign of law.

174

THE VIRTUE OF PRUDENCE

THE VIRTUE OF PRUDENCE

"THE WISE IN HEART SHALL BE CALLED PRUDENT." PROV. xvi. 21

§3 THE VIRTUE OF PRUDENCE.

Is

vigilant.

Is

judicious.

Is

wise

and perse vering.

Prudence is reason spiritualised. Temperance is the virtue of the body, Prudence is that .of the soul. It is the soul brought under the guidance of the spirit.

It has several elements: vigilance, judiciousness, wisdom, and perseverance.

Vigilance! Prudence stands on the watch-tower. It is ever on the look out. It is in this respect the first of all virtues, "the most needed for the well-being of human life." .Liddon.

It forecasts the work to be done, the tower to be built, the enemy to be overcome.

It carefully estimates its resources, scrutinises the justice of the action, the best time for proceeding, makes allowance for un seen eventualities.

It has a judicious temper, not carried away by impulse or swayed by

prejudices, or overruled by friendships or enmities. It sits like an impartial judge weighing the different arguments for or

against and deciding which is the most weighty because most worthy,

as well as practical. In practical matters it steers a middle course between timidity which

hinders timely action, and rashness which acts thoughtlessly and

with impetuosity. It can be decided without obstinacy, prompt without needless delay,

judicious in action, vigorous with caution. It has ever a practical object in view, for "forecast without action is

dreaminess, and action without forecast is always folly." Liddon.

It takes counsel of the wise, "for they that do all things with coun sel are ruled by wisdom." Prov. xiii. 10-16.

As enlightened with heavenly wisdom, it looks beyond the present life. It acts with the day of judgment in view of and with an eye to eternity.

It observes the words of highest wisdom, "What shall it profit if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul." "If a man forsake all for My sake he shall receive an hundredfold reward."

Heavenly wisdom, in doing best for oneself, acts on the highest of motives, for we cannot seek our own spiritual advantage without promoting the greater glory of God, nor can we seek God's glory without seeking our own best good.

The wisdom from above ever leads to humility. The soul does not only ask whether such a work is a good work, but am I called to do it.

Prudence and perseverance go hand in hand. As prudence does not outrun providence, so it waits on it.

By its practice souls are won, where argument fails. It keeps the soul itself constant to its religious duties, to its prayers, communions, confessions, self-examinations. It keeps before the soul the cer tainty of death and the final doom.

THE VIRTUE OF JUSTICE

THE VIRTUE OF JUSTICE

'THUS SAITH THE LORD, KEEP YE JUDGMENT AND DO JUSTICE"

	'Its
	origin.
	Relation to God.
§4 THE VIRTUE OF JUSTICE.
	To our neighbour
	and , ourselves.

Justice is a virtue which inclines the will to constantly render to each

his due. The sense of justice is one of the most elementary notions of our

spiritual nature.

As the body is controlled by the law of gravitation and the mind by

the laws of thought, so the spiritual nature energises by virtue of

the union with the divine spirit. It recognises the difference between right and wrong, its relationships,

the duty to care for the rights of others and to give to each their

due.

It finds its exercise in three forms: Justice towards God, Justice

towards our neighbour, Justice towards ourselves. God has His rights. He made us. He bought us. We belong by a

double right to Him, and we owe Him service. As the eternal Truth He claims the homage of our understanding.

As the All- Holy One He claims the homage of our wills; as the

eternal Beauty, that of our hearts. He has the right to be believed when He speaks, to be trusted when

He offers to save, to be worshipped when He manifests Himself. We can never give Him all that is worthily His due, but in Christ all

that we are and have is accepted by Him.

In dealing with our neighbour, justice bids us "do unto all men as we would they should do unto us."

It recognises the rights of man to live, and by honest labour re ceive the necessaries of life, to a protection of person and property justly acquired, to a government that seeks the well-being of the governed.

It unites capital and labour by mutual concessions and fair dealing and the golden rule.

It makes men jealous of others' reputations as of their own and checks hasty judgments of others' conduct.

In religion, justice makes us realise how much we owe to our spirit ual ancestors and the debt we owe to missions and to those who come after us.

Justice towards ourselves makes us feel the responsibility of being intrusted with a body, soul, and spirit with which we can serve God and attain a blessed end.

The failure of human justice, as between man and man, morally de mands a future, which justice to ourselves warns us not to forfeit.

All unrealities are a violation of the law of justice. The need, if just, of being true.

Justice to others is patriotism to our country, piety to our parents, fair dealing in our business, philanthropy to our brothers, to the sick and aged and poor. It is devotion to God and truthfulness to ourselves. "To thyself be true."

176

THE VIRTUE OF FORTITUDE

THE VIRTUE OF FORTITUDE

"BE IT KNOWN UNTO THEE, O KING, THAT WE WILL NOT SERVE THY GODS, NOR WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE WHICH THOU HAST SET UP"

Fortitude is the virtue which gives power to do and to bear. It em powers the will in doing one's duty. It enables it to endure what the permissive will of God allows to befall us.

It is thus both active and passive; as active is known as courage, as

passive, as patience. As a natural virtue enlarged and elevated by divine grace, it has the

greater glory of God as its end, the will of God for the law of its

action, the love of God for its dominant motive.

§5 THE

VIRTUE OF FORTITUDE.

The soul's knight errant.

As re lated to the world and the Church.

In re gard to oneself.

It knows God is working out His own plan, that with Him nothing is impossible, that our failures are often the means by which He accomplishes His ends.

Self-reliance is the product of nature; the cardinal virtue of Forti tude is based on absolute distrust of self and trust in God.

It is the knight errant of the soul and its weapon is the cross, and its armour, humility.

Fortitude puts itself in union with God's will. It seeks not that God will aid it in the carrying out of its plans, but surrenders itself to God that He may carry out His plans through it.

The world may seemingly triumph, but our faith rises above the apparent defeat and so overcomes the world.

It is a blessed privilege to live in the later days, when the heavenly powers are shaken, that we may glorify God in the fires.

In times of peace souls more easily keep the true faith and are saved ; in the days of trouble and trial saints are made.

The spirit of martyrdom and persecution is abroad and the sign of the Son of Man is thus seen in the heavens.

Christ did not call any into Peter's boat, a type of the old dispensa tion, but said all who sailed in the gospel boat of Paul should be saved, though the outward frame went to pieces.

Fortitude, in the presence of unbelieving criticism humbly takes shelter in the fortress of the. Faith once and for all delivered, and kept, and witnessed to by the concurrent consent of Apostolic Christendom.

Fortitude in respect of ourselves is seen in bearing with our worldly condition, with illness, with losses of those we love, with the con stant and daily trials of life.

It enables the clergy, who are at once as united to our Lord, priests and victims, to endure opposition and to preach the cross from the pulpit of the cross.

It enables the Catholic layman in social and family life to bear with the environment of prejudiced or uninstructed churchmanship.

It enables every Christian to bear with his own temperament while he endeavours to subdue it, to be patient with his own slowness in achieving the victory, to resolve to die fighting.

He gains a victory with God who never despairs of his mercy and rises quickly after stumblings and falls. Fortitude teaches him how to "coin victory of humility out of defeat, and turn the stones, over which he has stumbled, into stepping stones to heaven."

FAITH

177

ARTICLE III. THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES FAITH

'By GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH, AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES, IT is THE GIFT OF GOD "

§ 1 FAITH.

'Human and divine faith.

Divine

faith

entire.

Character of divine faith.

Belief may be the result of the human mind trusting in human testimony, or the preponderating weight of probabilities.

This belief or human faith may include the Being of God, and be shared in by devils who believe there is one.

But in divine faith, through which we are saved, there is an action of God on the soul.

God's grace forecometh us in all returns to Himself. He arouses the un- baptised sinner, and disposes him to faith and repentance. He revives in the baptised the dormant habit of faith.

Faith is thus the soul and spirit quickened by grace, which enables it to see and submit, to believe and trust, to venture and lay hold.

It is the beginning of the soul's new life. It is the spiritual ear listening, hearing the heavenly word; the eye piercing through things material to the unseen; the hand laying hold of His Hand of promise.

God worketh in us to think, to will, and to do. Grace aideth thought, rouses the affections, strengthens the will. It helps and guides the hand to withdraw the bolt and open the door.

'The material object of faith is Christ and all He is, has said and done and instituted in and by His Church, which is His living witness and the keeper and guardian of the gospel.

To believe in any Christian doctrine solely because it commends itself to our reason is not to have faith, though the faith as revealed by the Church is conformity with the best reason.

The faith that justifies must be the action not of the mind or will believ ing only, but of the whole combined nature; the mind accepting, the heart trusting, the will surrendering to do God's will.

Living faith is practically inseparable from good works. Works done with out God's grace cannot justify, such works cannot save.

But faith without works is seen to be dead.

f Faith which is of God will be entire. It will not pick and choose. It will not accept one doctrine and refuse another. It expects to find difficul ties and believes in spite of them.

It grows by obedience to have an assuring witness in itself. As it does the will of God, it learns of the doctrine. The spirit beareth witness with our spirit and it knows in whom it believes.

If it be hard to believe, remember God gives the gift of faith to those who seek it. "If thou art not drawn, pray that thou mayst be drawn." If thou canst not pray fervently, pray for the spirit of prayer. Heed not if thou seem not at first to be heard. Remember the Syrophenician woman and persevere.

"Act faithfully according to thy light and thou shalt have more light. Be courageous and make the venture. Take the step that seems to be one in air and thou shalt find the Rock under thy feet." 12

178

HOPE

THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

HOPE

"WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE"

§ 2 HOPE.

True hope.

False ^hope.

Hope is a virtue by which with an inspired confidence the soul trusts the prom ises of Christ of salvation and the means thereto as made personally to itself.

The material object is God, our possession of Him and the means which lead to the possession.

The formal object or motive is the Mercy and Omnipotence of God and His faithfulness to His promises.

Faith sees the heavenly vision and God's gifts; Hope says they are, by His mercy and grace, for me.

Hope is a grace and gift of God. It is given in a degree by actual grace before baptism, is implanted in germ in baptism by habitual grace.

It is increased by prayer, by deeds of love and ripened by trials and afflictions.

It brings joy and peace. Now "the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing."

It is a virtue full of sweetness, leading to a rest in Him who will never fail us, to an abiding in Him who holds us fast in Himself, to a satisfaction ia the joyful possession of Him "who is our Hope."

"For our hope," says Dr. Pusey, "is not the glory of heaven, nor rest from labour, nor fulness of our wishes, nor torrent of delight, but Christ our God, the Hope of Glory."

'The hope of the Christian is as an anchor sure and steadfast, cast within the veil ; but the hope of the wicked is as dust blown with the wind.

They have a rotten and delusive hope, who hope to be saved by their belief in some system of theology, or because of outward church membership, or as having once experienced religion.

They delude themselves with false hopes who delay their repentance, for God who offers thee pardon on repentance offers no morrow to thy delay.

Those are deceitful hopes which lead men to live on without repentance, neg lecting the sacraments, and hoping to be saved because they are no worse than the most of men.

They are in self-destroying error who hope to be saved by joining some society man has made, like the Masons, Odd Fellows, or any like order; membership in them cannot save us.

Those hopes are presumptuous that flatter men with the sense of their goodness, popular esteem, or reliance on the general idea of the mercy of God.

They are "false, sickening, miserable hopes when a man seeks for any happi ness out of God," and seeking his portion in this life hopes for God as his portion in the next.

"The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked .. shall perish."

CHARITY

79

AND NOW ABIDETH FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY, THESE THREE, BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE is CHARITY "

§3 CHARITY.

-Its

nature.

Its necessity.

Its

great

value.

How increased.

Love is a supernatural virtue, implanted incipiently by God in us at bap tism, developed in us by the Holy Spirit in a progressive conversion, growing into perfection through the discipline of providence and the gifts of grace.

It is the virtue by which we love God above all things and our neigh bour for His sake.

It is a love drawn out by His love who created and redeemed us, who loved us with an everlasting love, and when estranged by sin re deemed us.

It is a gift by which the love of God is diffused in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.

The essence of the virtue lies in the response of unselfish love to the un selfish love of God and the mutual love and intercommunion between the two.

Without charity in some degree nothing will profit to a man's salva tion, nothing will merit a reward.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass ; though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries; though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." I Cor.

The virtue of charity is discriminated from generosity or philanthropy, which are the outcome of a natural disposition, as being the creation of grace.

With any feeling of uncharitableness in the heart no one can enter heaven where love must reign in all.

Love is the greatest of all virtues, because it has its source in what God Himself is. God is love.

It is the queen of all. "Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection."

It is the most enduring, for while faith and hope end in the sight of God and in the possession of eternal life, charity remaineth forever, grow ing and increasing and uniting us more and more to God.

It is the fulfilling of the law, for it is the motive of keeping it and the end to be gained thereby.

It is the soul of all virtues, it animates all; but is beyond all. It is Temperance keeping itself pure, Fortitude enduring all things, Jus tice serving God alone, Prudence keeping close to Him.

Love waits and watches for the coming of whom it loves. It dwells on Him, cherishes His every word. It loves all that belongs to Him, sacrifices itself to His interests, gladly suffers for the One it loves, hath no other will but His. It counts nothing too little and nothing too great for Him. It seeks to love all in Him, for His dear sake.

i8o

CHARITY

§4

CHARITY (continued).

'WE BEING MANY ABE ONE BODY IN CHRIST, AND EVERY ONE MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER "

Love has its degrees. The lowest form is the love that springs from need. It is a Christian form of this love that man loves God be cause He has redeemed and saved him. Then having tasted of His spiritual gifts the soul loves Him for the joy this intercourse gives. But then the soul finally, even through the pain of having this sensi ble sweetness withdrawn, begins to love Him for Himself alone.

Its degrees.

Its action.

Its reward.

The tests whether we have the love of God are also the means of grow ing in it. The soul not only thinks of God in time of trouble and felt need, but is ever looking out for Him, watching for His presence, glad to resort to Him, shutting out needless distractions and worldly interests that she may abide with Him.

The soul that loves Him, will study His interests, His Church's needs, will gladly make sacrifices for Him. "Love sweetens all bitter things, softens all hard words, smoothes all that is toilsome, makes fasting a feast, self-denial a joy, labour a rest."

"As the love of God takes control of us it goes out to others ; to our re lations and friends in the order of nature ; to our fellow-churchmen, united to us in the kingdom of grace ; to strangers, sinners, enemies, in the realm of charity.

The virtue declares that whoever God has made is our brother by creation, and we have a responsibility to all, as being our brother's keeper.

It counsels us to remember that we are all alike sinners redeemed by the precious blood.

It bids us act on the principle that if our debt of ten thousand talents has been forgiven we should be willing to forgive others.

The love of God helps us to conquer ourselves and love with the love He gives, those who are our enemies, and to be willing to be reconciled and forgive them for His sake.

The virtue controls the manner of our actions, doing as we would be done by, and not doing what we would not others should do.

We should endeavour to love others as Christ loved us, seeking their highest interests in the salvation of their souls, and if we can do no more, praying for them.

It is by the multitude of little unselfish actions charity shows itself and to it is given an especial apostolate in winning souls to God.

'It brings a joy into the soul, and peace. Divine love mortifies self- love. So the Imitation teaches. "The more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live to God."

It is the love of anything apart from God that hindereth the love of God. "Lord," saith S. Augustine, "he loveth Thee too little who loveth anything with Thee which he loveth not for Thee."

It is by charity here and hereafter we are united to God.

THE FIRST BEATITUDE

181

§ i

THE FIRST BEATITUDE.

Actual poverty.

Its

Spiritual poverty.

.blessing.

ARTICLE IV. THE BEATITUDES 'And He opened His mouth and taught them '*

THE FIRST BEATITUDE "BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT"

'The Incarnate God united our nature to His and speaks through it. It is always God who acts and speaks. He speaks through our nature as a man speaks through a speaking-trumpet. So God opened His mouth and taught.

The Beatitudes form one whole, arranged in a progressive order, every new spiritual elevation being the result of that which pre ceded it. They are the golden ladder of the spiritual life.

The first round of it is poverty of spirit. Blessed are the poor. Bless edness begins, in Christ's view, where in human estimation misery begins.

Actual poverty or the want of earthly means is blessed when it tends to a dependence and trust in God and seeking His help.

Wealth is consistent with the spirit of poverty when man holds it as a ^. steward and God is the true riches of the soul.

"The poverty specially commended is spiritual poverty, or poverty of spirit.

This poverty lies at the basis of evangelical piety and is the condition of its reception.

He is poor in spirit who has become conscious of his frailties and im perfections, of the sinfulness of his own nature, of the untrust- worthiness of his own resolutions, of the incapacity of himself to reform himself.

He is poor who mourns over his lack of faith and inability by himself to keep God's law, his failings and imperfections, and has no trust in his own righteousness.

He is poor who recognises his own nothingness apart from God, his lost condition through sin, his only hope through the mercy of God, . and the merits of Jesus Christ.

The blessing — "theirs is the Kingdom" is not of man's merit, but of Christ's free gift, blessed of God. Grace designed it, grace be stows it, grace receives it.

Christ's word is to the hearts broken, the souls feeling their sins, the souls not rich in their own esteem, but poor in spirit, feeling keenly their need.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is for them. The kingdom of peace and salvation and joy has come. It has come to them and if it has come to them in any degree it will come in fuller measure.

It will come progressively in its light and love and power more and more. The emptier they are of self, the more the kingdom will fill them.

It comes with its joy and peace, with the special companionship of the saints and angels, who intercede for us in glory, and watch over us on earth.

i8a

THE SECOND BEATITUDE

THE SECOND BEATITUDE

1 BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN, FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED "

THE

SECOND

BEATITUDE.

Its

nature.

Its

blessing.

The first round on the ladder is poverty of spirit, the second is that of mourning.

It is not the mourning attending temporal loss or afflictions. "Man is born to sorrow." Nor is it the sorrow of this world which leadeth to despair and worketh death.

The mourning is the outcome of the evangelical poverty of spirit, that feels its nothingness and trusts God's Almightiness.

It differs from repentance which leads to conversion, for it is the act of a soul that has turned to God but sees itself in His Holiness.

It is a mourning by His Spirit in God, after God, and for God and His glory.

It is the deepening and abiding sorrow for past and forgiven sin that comes with increasing knowledge and love of God.

The more I know Thee, the more I love Thee; yet the more I love, the more I grieve for having offended Thee.

It is in the soul a condition consistent with a special peace and joy, resting on Christ's merits and in His love.

The mourning is with Christ, and in union with His tears over Jeru salem, and over a rejecting and dying world.

Unlike the stoicism of heathen philosophy, the soul does not become indurate, but while sorrowing with Christ and drinking of His cup, is sustained by Him in peace.

We are exiles here, and heaven is our home. Here with Christ we in patience carry our cross after Him, and have fellowship in His sufferings.

In proportion as we enter into them shall we be, comforted, comforted by the Comforter shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts and assuring us we are the sons of God.

If we mourn over our sins or sinfulness, we have also the consolation that Christ is our propitiation ; that we are accepted in the Beloved, and Christ in us is the hope of glory.

If tried by adversity, by losses, by persecutions, it standeth sure that they who suffer with Him shall also reign with Him.

If assaulted by temptations, within or without, the soul is comforted with a security the world cannot give or take away.

k." Your sorrow shall be turned to joy."

THE THIRD BEATITUDE

i83

THE THIRD BEATITUDE

"BLESSED ARE THE MEEK; FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH"

§3

THE THIRD BEATITUDE.

The first beatitude lays the foundation of sanctity in self-abnegation and poverty of spirit. The second principle is a permanent and deepening sorrow for our forgiven sins and sinfuhiess, as the remains of our old nature.

The first deepens the sense of our nothingness and the virtue of humility; the second, an advancing contrition through increasing love.

The third advances from the purificative way to the illuminative, or conformity to the example of Christ. "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart."

Meekness is not, as is often supposed, the manifestation of a gentle, soft, yielding, plastic nature, that is too inert and feeble to feel resentment and not subject to passion.

It is the grand virtue gained by the severest self-discipline, by a fierce battle with the multitudinous forms of self-love, by a masterful conquest over the natural emotions, by the development of a strong Christ-controlled will.

It is to be seen in Christ, who feeling intensely the indignities offered to Him, the blows, the lies, the spitting, nevertheless restrained the righteous indignation that was their due.

Meekness is thus a victory over self and its emotions, through righteousness and goodness, ruling them as with an iron sceptre, and if need be with a scourge.

It requires the highest moral courage. The meek lives with God and in another world, and so cannot be insulted by a worldly man.

The angry man is the weak man, and what the world thinks weakness in the meek is the result of colossal strength.

It is because he is victor over self that he becomes the helper and ruler of others. He conquers others who first conquers himself.

Before the martyr's meekness the Roman empire gave way and the Church began a possession of the world.

The strength of the meek lies in his trust in God, to. whom he commits himself and his cause; in God to whom vengeance belongeth and who will repay.

The reward promised is won through spiritual victories, and is a present and also a future one. Even here the land is ours.

As to the Israelites the inheritance of the promised land was given, so the Christian has an assured inheritance in the new heaven and earth.

Now in sympathy with man's estate the whole creation travails and groans in pain, but it will share with him in the final restitution, and in that new earth the meek shall reign.

1 84

THE FOURTH BEATITUDE

THE FOURTH BEATITUDE

'BLESSED ABE THEY THAT HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED "

§4 THE FOURTH BEATITUDE.

Its

connection with the foregoing.

What the hunger and thirst is.

The reward.

The soul abiding in lowly poverty of spirit, in loving sorrow, in

the developing meekness of self -crucifixion, becomes possessed

of a hunger and thirst after righteousness. The soul advancing from the purificative way set forth in the first

two beatitudes proceeds into the illuminative set forth in the

third, fourth, and fifth. It has become a follower of the meek and lowly One and now is

filled with a desire to be like Him. God, by whose grace the remaining natural desire for goodness is

thus developed, gives the kind of food the awakened spiritual

appetite demands. This hunger and thirst being not a single act, the satisfaction is

not therefore like the act of acceptance, but a continuous gift

of the bread of heaven and the water of life.

This hunger and thirst is not one for salvation which has been given, nor is it an emotional desire for religion or piety as some thing beautiful and sweet, and so desirable.

It is the purpose of a grace-endowed will, that knowing self pro foundly distrusts self, condemns self, hates self, is self's exe cutioner.

It leaves self wherever it finds self, sharply schools the tongue, cauterises self-love by humiliations, seeks self -crucifixion, that Christ may reign in the soul.

It is a persistent and growing desire after righteousness which lies in the destruction of the old nature and the being recreated by penitence and made a new creature in Christ.

It is a never satisfied desire. The grace given in response to the desire while it satisfies, increases it. "They that eat Me shall yet be hungry and they that drink Me shall yet thirst." (Ecc. xxiv. 21.)

As the hungry man cannot wait or brook delay, so spiritual hunger conquers laxity and sloth. "The King's business requires haste."

As the hungry, to sustain life, eats any food within his reach, so the hungry soul eats the bread of affliction, trial, sorrow, loss, pain as often the best of nourishments.

As the hungry man forgets in his present need what he had yester day, so the spiritual man forgets the things that are behind in the one aim of pressing on to perfection — Excelsior.

The righteousness the soul hungers and thirsts for, it shall be filled with; not merely virtues, or gifts, or graces, but with Christ Himself, who is our Righteousness.

He will feed us with Himself, not with mere religious feelings, but with His own food which was "to do the will of Him that sent Me."

The soul that so hungers and thirsts shall progress and its path be as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the per fect day.

THE FIFTH BEATITUDE

i85

THE FIFTH BEATITUDE

"BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY"

§5

THE

FIFTH

BEATITUDE.

Its nature.

Its motives.

Its

result.

The life in Christ must manifest itself in good works. From our grace- saved relation to Him what should follow but mercy to others. This is the third development in the illuminative path.

Mercy is both a feeling of compassion and a desire, which, when a virtue, takes the intelligent and active form of ministering relief.

It is an active operative principle. It does not weep but gives. It does not sorrow but feeds. It does not sympathise, it relieves.

It is not content with deploring the moral wretchedness of mankind, it exerts itself to meet the wants of humanity.

It has its basis in the love wherewith Christ has loved us and it flows out through us towards others.

To exercise Christian mercy the soul must have felt the need of God's mercy, and labour that others may experience it also.

'It is love evoked by the sight of misery more strongly felt when it seems undeserved, or in contrast with former happiness.

It is only a virtue when it is not the result of the human motive that we may come into like condition, but when it is the outcome of God's mercy to us.

It is not the manifestation of an easy-going good nature that cannot say "no" to child or friend, or of a philanthropic one that scatters alms without judgment.

The mercy that obtains a final reward will be that which had for its motive "ye have done it unto Me."

It will be of the kind that recogni ing the oneness of the family of Christ, for His sake bears another's burdens.

It shows itself in the seven corporal works of mercy: To feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the prison ers, minister to the sick, show hospitality, bury the dead.

It shows itself in the spiritual works of mercy : To convert the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubting, pray for others, com- . fort the afflicted, return good for evil, forgive our enemies.

'It conforms us to the image of God. " Be merciful even as your Father is merciful:" and of Christ, "Who went about doing good."

It feels for the whole Church's needs. "Who is offended and I burn not." It leaves no part of it, the living or dead, out of its prayers.

To it God's word is pledged. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Give and it shall be given unto you. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven."

1 86

THE SIXTH BEATITUDE

THE SIXTH BEATITUDE

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD "

f Purity of heart.

§6 THE SIXTH BEATITUDE.

Its

reward.

Christ here reveals the advance from the illuminative stage of the spiritual life to that of the imitive.

The soul is freed from mortal sins and has nothing so much in horror as venial ones.

The intellect in its memory, understanding, imagination, thought, has been filled with Christ ; and its heart and will, in its choices, affec tions, emotions, and aspirations is centered on Him.

The soul has become mostly emptied of self : — of self-love, self-deceit, self-interest.

It has become detached from persons, plans, worldly interests, human respect, in its attachment to Christ.

It has become single in aim, desire, end. Its end is the greater glory of God, its law of conduct God's blessed will, its dominant motive, the love of God.

The pure heart has no fold of deceit in it, is marked by simplicity, singleness of eye, sincerity, and is ever advancing to a greater de gree of love.

It is love absorbing, illuminating, transporting, consuming, courageous, inebriating, triumphant.

It advances from the more active state of corresponding to grace to the more passive and receptive one.

It is a walking with God, a communion with Him, a life hidden in Hun. "Henceforth I live, yet not I."

The pure heart sees God.

It sees God in nature, which is His veil. In His providential guidance of nations and the Church, sees Him especially in Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh. Sees Him as veiled in the sacraments, sees Him as dwelling within the hearts and souls of the faithful, and the spiritual sight fills the soul with joy.

When the soul has passed into His presence it will see and enjoy Him in proportion to the love it had here, and which will determine the ratio of our progress in eternity.

It will, in Christ, see God, and in its glorified condition be able to see Him as He is; and be transformed into His likeness.

THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE

187

THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE 'BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD

§7 THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE.

'The

Christian's vocation.

A peace maker.

How exercised.

Its

reward.

To every soul God gives a vocation. There is a divinely appointed work for each to do. There is a divinely prepared path safe guarded and illuminated, for each to follow. To learn this is the Christian's duty, to follow it is to be in the path of safety.

The sixth beatitude reveals the unitive state, the seventh the general law and principle of vocation. We are all called to be peacemakers.

The source of this calling is Christ, who is our Peace, who has made peace, who gives us His peace, who abides in us, that the peace of God may rule in our hearts.

'Peace lies in the harmony of our nature, in the fixedness of its order, in its reconciliation with God, in the mastery of suc cessful conflict.

Our Lord who said "My peace I give unto you," also said, "I come not to send peace but a sword." For the gospel brought disputes, differences, separations, but to the soul united to Him it brought peace.

The beatitude does not, however, merely refer to a peaceable dis position and its calmness, but to the active peacemaker.

This is the vocation of all Christians, who, spirit-controlled, keep peace within, strive for peace between nations and individuals, in families, in parishes, who work and pray for the restoration of Christian fellowship between the divided branches of a Catho lic Christendom.

They are specially peacemakers whose vocation is to be priests or religious, for they reconcile souls to God, and help heal the Church's divisions.

The seventh beatitude adds to the reward of the sixth, they shall not only see God, but be called the sons of God. They are adopted sons of God.

God's adoption differs from a human adoption by the communica tion of a principle of sonship and making the adopted a par taker of the Divine nature.

It is a relation which will be acknowledged by God Himself, and made known to the saints and angels. They shall be called the sons of God. To the hesitating, considering their vocation, Christ says, "Consider the sublimity of the reward."

1 88

THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE

THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE

"BLESSED ARE YE WHEN MEN SHALL REPROACH YOU, AND PERSECUTE YOU, AND SAY ALL MANNER OF EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY FOR MY SAKE : REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD ; FOR GREAT is YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN"

§8 THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE.

The blessing of

persecu tion.

Its

various forms.

Its

great

.reward.

Suffering for another is the highest expression of love. God so loved us, on the cross He died for us. The Saints respond to His love by suffering and dying for Him.

Our Lord foretold that His disciples should in the world have tribu lation, promised those, who as religious had left all, they should have persecutions.

In the higher degrees of sanctity souls welcome pain, adversities, re proaches, persecutions, revilings, contempt, and rejections because by these they are united to their Lord and made like Him.

They rejoice in being wronged, insulted, lied against, as it gives them an opportunity of uniting themselves to Christ's act of forgiveness on the cross.

They are glad to suffer for Christ's or righteousness' sake, for the world can give them no greater blessing than a cross.

All who by their steadfastness to the Church, shrink not from bear ing witness, by observances of its precepts, must bear the sneers, taunts, and scoffings of the ungodly.

Christ said "I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."

As all holiness provokes the world's hatred, so the Church in various forms is ever being persecuted, by abuse, violence, and slander.

From the beginning of Christianity the saints have longed to suffer for Christ, and rejoiced in it, and in suffering and by faith have overcome the world.

"Were any to offer me," said S. Chrysostom, "the whole heaven and Paul's chain, I would prefer that chain. Were any to ask whether he would place me with the angels or with Paul in bonds ? I would choose the prison. Nothing is nobler than to suffer for Christ's sake."

f To those who suffer for His sake, Christ promises a great reward in the heavens. All reward depends on the merits of Christ and His gracious covenant to give it.

Man, by using the grace freely given, can obtain more grace, and through his cooperation with grace attain a supernatural reward.

The beatitudes begin with the blessing to the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom, they end with the exceeding great reward of those who attain saintliness.

OUR LIFE IN CHRIST

ARTICLE IV. OUR LIFE IN CHRIST CHRIST THE IDEAL, EXEMPLAR, MODEL

	^Christ
	is the •<
	model.
	Christ
	is the <
	vine.
§ 1
OUR LIFE
IN <
CHRIST.
	Christ
	is our <
	life.
	Trans
	mitting His
	virtues
	^to us.

"Man needs in religion an authoritative teacher, the embodiment of the teaching in a living example, a deliverer and restorer, and Christ alone satisfies these wants.

But God purposing to raise man to a supernatural union with Himself, gives to humanity in Christ a new head of a new race.

He is the second Adam, the new man from heaven, whose humanity has a quickening or life-giving quality and who is not only our model, but our mould and moulder.

He is yet something more, for He is the living vine and we are the branches. His life is transmitted into us and brings forth, with our cooperation, fruits.

The Christian comes to live with His life. All toil, all work is glorified by it. All work is made beautiful by Him, all labour elevated by the joy of grace.

The soul united to Him and indwelt by Him, sees with His eyes, works with His assisting hands, thinks His holy, happy thoughts, loves with His love.

Abiding in Him the soul is kept from mortal sin. Whoso abideth in Him sinneth not.

In Christ Jesus are ye "who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption."

We do not look at Him and try to follow His example, but He gathers us into Himself and is the soul of our soul, the life of our life.

He brings to bear on our souls the various powers of His soul, with all their virtues, and so extends His life in us.

f The Church as His bride thus partakes of His likeness. He extends the great principles of His own life to her.

"I come to do thy will." "I receive not honour from men." "I seek not my own glory." "I must be about my Father's business." "Led by the Spirit." "As I hear so I speak." "That the scripture might be fulfilled." "I have a baptism to be baptised with."

The Christian thus prays, "Soul of Christ sanctify me, Body of Christ save me, Blood of Christ cleanse me, Passion of Christ strengthen me."

Humility of Christ make me humble, zeal of Christ make me zealous, patience of Christ make me patient, fortitude of Christ make me strong, purity of Christ make me pure, meekness of Christ make me meek, prayerfulness of Christ make me prayerful, love of Christ fill me with Thy love.

Christ having developed these virtues in humanity in an heroic degree transmits them to His members, and so the Church, which is His bride, is the extension of the Incarnation.

KJO

CHRIST IN US

CHRIST IN Us

§2 CHRIST

IN Us.

"Christ in us our life.

Our life in union .with His.

Creatures are perfect when most like their type. Christians are so as they reproduce the principles of Christ's life.

He bids us learn, not merely of His doctrine, and not merely from what He says, but of Himself.

Learn of Me — of Myself — of my life, my motives, aims, conduct in all the circumstances and departments of My life.

Not as God did I meet trial, temptation, suffering, but as man did I fight and overcome — aided as you may be by the Holy Spirit.

The Christian has also Christ within him. The blood of the old sacrifice was poured out beneath the altar, now the Blood is communicated and His life is in us.

His visible life was divided into four parts, His hidden life, His public life, His suffering, and risen life. He gathers our life into union with His.

1. His hidden life in the womb of his blessed Mother, humbling Himself to thus enter creation and become one of us; then remaining thirty years in obscurity, hidden even as God is hidden in nature ; as a youth obedient to His Mother and S. Joseph ; labouring at His trade, a poor man among the poorest; God submitting Himself to be ruled by His creatures. From thence,

The Christian learns to bear with his lot, even that of poverty, with want of notice, fame, the being put aside, failing of influence, to the schooling of obedience, to a life of hiddenness and prayer. Consider,

2. Christ in His public life, a life of mixed work and contemplative prayer. He entered into it by a fast of forty days and a severe temptation. It was a life of constant work, so that often there was not time to eat. He was constantly speaking to the multitude, daily dealing with the Disciples, meeting His enemies subtly endeavouring to entangle Him and find aught to accuse Him. Always going about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, ministering to souls. Continuing this life through His Church. Consider,

3. His suffering life, foreseen and accepted from the first. The passion, the blows, scourging, crowning with thorns, nailing, thirst, agony, crucifixion, all the bodily and mental pains. The marvelous words, the conversion of the penitent thief, the beginning of that drawing, that was to be felt in all the world, drawing men to lives of sacrifice in union with His cross. Consider,

4. His risen life. Christ with His own; their peace, their life, their strength, their joy, their Lord and God, their hope, their justification and secured possession.

5. Ascended He further unites them to Himself by His Holy Spirit. They are supernaturally His. They dwell with Him and He with them. He is their love, their soul's delight, their advocate, their mediator, the

. preparer of their heavenly mansions, their all in all.

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT Our Lord's discourse as given us may be divided into six parts

I. THE BEATITUDES WHICH AS SUMMING UP THE MOTIFS OF THE WHOLE ARE LIKE A

DIVINE OVERTURE

{Ye are the Salt of the Earth. The Light of the World. A City set on a Hill. Built on the Old Foundation. The Altar.

§ 1

CHRIST'S SERMON

ON THE

MOUNT.

'The temple idea.

The salt.

The light.

The city.

The altar.

(^Before our Lord's mind as the order shows, there rises the glorious vision of

Jerusalem, with its splendid gold-crowned temple, its holy sacrifices, its

< pile of salt for the offerings without, the golden candlestick within lighting

the holy place, and the atmosphere of covenanted blessings and reconcilia-

(^ tion that pervaded it.

"Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt is a preservative from corruption, gives savour, is an emblem of friendship and fidelity.

Christians are salt as one with the rock which is Christ. But if separated by exposure or by any foreign admixture the salt has lost its quality, it . becomes worthless.

_It is not by a nominal Christianity, but a living one the workHs blessed.

"Ye are the light of the world. Christ is the Light. The disciples must be connected with Him as the candlestick holding the oil.

It is by union with Him, the light is sure, ever the same, permanent, enduring from generation to generation.

The disciples are not to hide the faith under a bushel of rationalism, in the pretence of saving it from the blasts of unbelieving criticism, but fix it firmly in the traditional candlestick.

They are the light of the world, but the supernatural light will not enlighten the worldly minded, but will give light to those "in the house."

'Christianity will be like an ancient city. It will have its walls, a gate, and government. It will be a visible organisation, like a city set on a hill.

It will be built on the old foundation. Christ came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it, by His obedience, and by filling it full of Himself, changing its priesthood and ordinances into those of a higher kind.

Speaking before Jews but to Christians, Christ reveals the fact that in the church there should be an altar, coming to which reconciled to God, we should come reconciled and in charity with one another.

Abiding in the Church obediently, loyally, faithfully, and keeping its pre cepts, we shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT

m ,

C Marriage, Christ and His Church.

T AW

AjAW

T OVF °/ O<rfA* am* SPeec/l io our Neighbour.

i_/*JVr. . ^ /^.m /~< j . . /^

] Of Conduct to our Opponents. \O Love towards our Enemies.

	The law
	of love.
§2
CHRIST'S
SERMON
ON THE •<
MOUNT
(continued).

The

exercises of love.

'In revealing His Kingdom, after the Beatitudes which declare the blessings of the Kingdom, and then, in veiled language, the visibil ity of it and the continuance of the old dispensation under higher spiritual forms, Christ declares the law of love that should animate its members.

He begins with marriage because it is the symbol and witness of His own union with the Church.

His words allow, for a specified condition, of a separation, but do not allow of the remarriage of either party. A Christian marriage is that of two baptised persons, and as their union is to bear witness to the indissolubility of the union between Christ and His Church, it is indissoluble.

Our Lord forbids the needless and voluntary taking of oaths and bids us cultivate truthfulness and simplicity of speech. Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay.

In our conduct, while it is justifiable to defend ourselves, and to re buke evil actions as He did when smitten, yet we are to govern the angry and litigious and revengeful spirit.

In our dealings we should for charity's sake and the good of souls be willing to suffer wrong and not in little matters stand out for our rights.

Rising above ourselves into the love of God, we should pray for, for give and bless our enemies.

IV. THE EXERCISES OF LOVE, Care Alms, Prayer, CH. VI. 1-18, \ and Fasting.

'A Christian gives alms out of love to God. Philanthropy seeks to benefit mankind, often for its own glory and in opposition to Christ's kingdom.

To seek to benefit mankind apart from God is to act in opposition to God.

Christ does not forbid publicity in almsgiving, for He commended the Magdalene's offering, but the spiritual man will always be doing something hiddenly. "My secret is with the Lord."

Prayer, our Lord commanded, because He loves the spiritual man to call upon, depend on Him, return His love. Prayer is not a mere asking for help, but an exercise of love, that gathers the soul into the embrace of God.

Fasting stands for all forms of mortification. Without mortification accepted and practised there can be little progress. The unmorti- fied person always remains in a low spiritual state.

Fasting unites the loving soul to Christ's fasting. If it does not unite to Him it is of no avail.

All self-discipline uniting us to Christ should awaken joy and cheer- . fulness. "Anoint thy head," etc.

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT

198

§3

CHRIST'S SERMON

ON THE

MOUNT

(concluded).

V. CH. VI. 19-34. THE LIFE OF LOVE. LOVE OUR LIFE

Live not as if the present world were a completed state of life. The world passeth away. Life here is but a moment of our existence.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures here, for your heart being with your treasure, will be absorbed and perish with it.

Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven. God has promised a re ward of the two and five talents to those who serve Him and the reward will be an eternal one.

Let the heart be undivided in its allegiance. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

The life of love.

Let thine inward eye be single, fixed on Christ, and thy whole being shall be full of light.

Put thou thy trust in Him. Be not anxious. He who cares for the grass and the sparrows will provide for thee. Cast all thy care on Him. His arm will support, His love provide.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all necessary things shall be added unto you.

God must deal with us as a race, as well as with us as individuals.

If God allows famines, pestilences, etc., it is to instruct mankind how to meet them. Disastrous volcanic eruptions and earth quakes are allowed for warnings and to develop human brother hood.

These dealings with us as a race are thus not signs of God's neglect, and by them individuals that have made Him their all, are gath ered into the safer and better land.

VI. CH. VII. 1-27. LOVE A LIFE OF UNION WITH GOD IN CHRIST

Our Lord introduces this last portion by a warning to His disciples not to judge others.

It is most appropriately introduced here, because Christians hav ing themselves advanced in spirituality, are specially tempted to judge others by the new standard they have gained for them selves.

With God in Christ.

The discourse ends in the communion with God in a life of progres sive prayer.

It builds up our spiritual life on the Rock that is Christ. We rest safely on His merits, joyfully on His love, and His life extends itself into us and we become like Him.

Let love of Him be thy food and drink. Thy motto, "Jesus only, Jesus always. All for Jesus."

13

THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

ARTICLE V, THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

FOR TO BE CARNALLY MINDED is DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED is LIFE AND PEACE "

THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT.

"Though Himself the eternal Word, yet Christ willed that the Holy Spirit should dwell in His human nature and in all His words and acts, His feelings and emotions He should be led by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit comes from Christ's humanity into His body the Church and into every individual member, uniting them to Christ and revealing Christ to them.

By the inbreathing of the Spirit at Baptism, the germs of the theological virtues are given.

The Spirit comes to dwell in our spirit and the three virtues tend to the healing of ignorance in the intellect, weakness in the will, disorder in the affections.

These gifts are different from "graces," for graces are given to individuals for special works or development of sanctity, while the gifts are bestowed on all, but in different degrees.

It is a matter of allowed theological difference whether gifts and virtues are identical.

It is held as more probable that while they have the Holy Spirit as their one source they may be theologically discriminated, for there seems to be a differ ence between their functions.

Moreover though the Spirit and the gifts and virtues are given in baptism, by farther gifts and use, the incipient virtues become abiding principles and habits.

The virtue is capable of a yet further development by the addition of the grace of Unction, which fills the virtue with a heavenly sweetness.

When the virtue has acquired not only strength and loveliness, it has as a ma tured fruit of the Spirit a beatitude or fragrance of its own.

The Spirit bestows on us His sevenfold gifts, elsewhere described and analysed.

He shows Himself in fruits, of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, etc.

The Spirit not only brings home to us the words of Christ but His miracles and parables with special application to ourselves, ever working in us a deeper conviction of sin, and more -complete transformation of character.

THE THREE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS

195

ARTICLE VI. THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS

THE THREE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS: POVERTY, CHASTITY, OBEDIENCE. WHY AND BY WHOM GIVEN. THEIR RATIONALE.

	^For His
	special lovers.
	Christ
§ 1	gives -< counsels.
THE
THREE
EVANGELICAL
COUNSELS.
	The
	reason for their
	selection.
	Their reward. V

'By the light burden of His precepts Christ guides all, but out of His great love provides counsels for those drawn to a closer con formity to Himself.

There are souls so moved by grace that they thirst for a participa tion in His life of entire consecration and oblation.

They are so filled with His love they can have no other love but His. They long to serve Him without distraction. At His feet they would ever sit. Him they consult in all things, on Him they wait. He is their light, their love, their holy joy.

Our Lord provides for their desires by giving them the three counsels, so called, of perfection. They are so called because they are helps to it.

"To the rich young man our Lord said, "If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor."

Concerning the unmarried state He said "there are eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."

When He was asked who is greatest in the Kingdom, He placed a little child in the midst of them and said "Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child the same is greatest."

He thus counselled for some poverty, obedience, and by the lan guage He used, a permanent unmarried estate, which could only, morally, be made permanent by vows.

The reason why poverty, chastity, and obedience were given as the three counsels was because they are the three specific remedies for the three roots of sin in our nature.

Chastity is the remedy for sensuality of the body, poverty is the reverse of covetousness of the soul, obedience is the mortifica tion of the pride of the spirit.

'The practice of these remedies is laid on all in baptism. All take vows to keep them. The difference in which they are practised by the religious is one of degree.

Saintliness may be attained in the world as in the cloister, but the latter offers greater opportunities of service, training, and helps in the spiritual life, and more complete self -consecration.

It has its own special reward. " Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or w lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold."

196

THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS

§2

THE EVAN GELICAL COUNSELS (continued).

Christ

the

exemplar

of

poverty,

of obedience,

of chastity.

As EXEMPLIFIED BY CHRIST

Christ laid the foundation of the religious life and exemplified the counsels in His own person.

He was the great religious and the founder of the religious estate.

In respect of poverty He was by choice born in poverty. His hidden life was that of a poor workman in a poor village. He could not save up anything.

On entering His public life He identified Himself with humanity as cast out of paradise, and became an outcast.

He abandoned, in fulfilment of His office, all means of support, being dependent on God's providential care.

He had no place whereon to lay His head. He was often without food, eating of the raw corn, famished at the wellside, seeking food of the barren fig tree.

He owned nothing save the garments His blessed Mother had made for Him, and these were taken away at His crucifixion.

The forty days of fasting with which He entered on His ministry had so reduced His body, that at His crucifixion they jeered at His emaciated figure.

He met with the people and sat at their table, but He endured hard ness and was the great ascetic.

"Moreover He practised in an heroic degree the virtue of obedience. His whole being and life was surrendered to the will of God, and He was obedient to death.

Although Almighty God, He humbled Himself and became obedient to His human creatures in the persons of the Blessed Mother and S. Joseph.

He was obedient to the requirements of the law and the Church and to those in authority who sat in Moses' seat.

He did not come as a reformer, planning and working out a scheme for man's redemption.

It was all laid down for Him, in the law and the prophets and psalms, and the rites and sacrifices of the Temple.

The Holy Scriptures gave Him as a religious, His rule of life.

He practised chastity. He was ever a virgin. But chastity signifies not merely purity of body, but of soul.

It involves the subordination of all ties and affections to one's mission.

No tie was ever so dear as that that bound the Blessed Mother and Himself together. Yet He abandons her to the care of God, as He takes His way unto His Messianic work.

THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS

THE TRAINING OF THE APOSTLES

	Christ's
	training
	of the
	apostles
	in
	poverty,
§3
THE
EVANGELICAL <
COUNSELS
(continued).
	and in
	obedience
	as
	individu- <
	als and
	as an
•	order.

In the manner of life our Lord lived He trained His apostles. They were to become living embodiments of His teaching and so in struments through which He could act.

So He called them from their postulant condition under John the Baptist, or out of the world, into His novitiate and its school of hardness.

No duty, no tie was to stand in the way of obedience to His call. They were to leave all and follow Him.

They were to undergo the severe regimen of His uncertain pro vision of food, and shelter, sleep in the open, be rocked in the same boat in the storm.

It was part of their training to be placed in jeopardy of their lives, for the strengthening of their character and preparation of their martyrdoms.

They were to follow a Lord who would be crucified, and they must look forward to martyrdom as a joyful consummation of their Apostleship.

Christ trained them in obedience as individuals and as a community.

They were to obey because bidden, even if the commands required faith in a supernatural guidance.

Thus our Lord bade two go, saying they would find an ass tied and to take him with no other word than that the Master had need of him.

They were to go into the city and find a man bearing a pitcher of water and to go into the house whither he entered and bid the owner prepare for the Passover.

Christ trained them as a community, giving them a rule which regu lated their conduct and mode of life.

They were at first to confine their work to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, their teaching to the proclamation of the King dom. They were to provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in their purses. They were to take nothing for their journey; no script, no bread, no money.

They were not to have two habits or coats. They were not to go from house to house. They were to eat and drink such things as were given them.

They were to go out two and two, and to preserve in their journey a silence, saluting no man by the way.

He disciplined them by severe rebukes. "Get thee behind me, Satan." "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."

Their action at His crucifixion when they forsook Him was, along with His restoration of them at His resurrection, a part of their training as novices.

.They were professed and consecrated at Pentecost.

i98

THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS

THEIR RECOGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE CHURCH

Scriptural instances.

From the earliest times persons are found who have embraced these counsels and lived by them.

It is not improbable that the daughters of Philip the deacon, who are called "Virgins" belonged to this class, and S. Ignatius mentions the widows as of a special order.

The her-

mitical

form.

§4
THE
EVANGELI
CAL
COUNSELS
(concluded).
	The
	monastic.

The first form the life took for men was that of the hermit character. Persons fled from the world to live dedicated to God in solitude and prayer. One reason they sought the desert was in imitation of our Lord's going into the wilderness.

'The life in time took on the monastic form. The religious were gathered into communities by great saints like S. Benedict, and kept a common rule.

The different orders extended over Europe and were centres of Chris tian influence and civilisation.

They were schools of education, manufactories of libraries, toilers in agriculture, the founders of legislative government.

The friars.

'The next development to meet the needs of the times was the rise of the friars, like the Franciscan and Dominican orders.

The monk was taken out of his cell and went forth as an evangelist and preacher.

Clerks regular.

'Next arose the modern orders, which were seculars under vows and mostly in military organisations under generals.

These were composed of clergy and called clerks regular. The same development taking place in the communities of women.

S. Vincent took them out of their cells by making an order of Sisters of Charity. Following this adaptation to modern needs many orders have arisen, given to educational and other work.

The witness.

'The existence of such forms of the Christian life is one proof of the existence of a valid priesthood and sacraments in any Church that has them.

For they bear witness to the oneness of the Church with the past and its true priesthood, for without valid sacraments the religious life cannot be maintained.

They shall have hereafter a special reward; along with martyrs and confessors they have the aureole of virginity, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.

'99

ARTICLE VII. CHRISTIAN PERFECTION "BE YE PERFECT AS YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN is PERFECT"

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

'Love the principle of perfection.

Its

progressive -< •stages.

Absolute perfection is arrived at in the Beatific Vision; here only an incomplete perfection is attainable.

The principle of the spiritual man is God in the soul. God dwell ing in the soul moves it according to its nature, — that is by love.

The love developed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit unites us to God, even as the Spirit unites the Blessed Trinity in joy and bliss.

This love is capable of continued increase, till it comes to be an habitual union of all our powers in God.

The special means for this increase are prayer, mortification, and doing for others.

The love of God does not extinguish our love for others, but rightly used, our love for others increases our love to God.

Charity or love enters into all the stages of our Christian life. It is to be found in the purificative, the illuminative, and unitive ways, and in various degrees in each.

The soul in the fervour of its first conversion is full of a love of gratitude to Him who has been a more than good Samaritan to it and has welcomed it home with a father's love.

Advancing, the soul begins by acting on the impulses of love to form a habit. By courageous perseverance in spite of failings and stumblings love becomes next a ruling principle.

Gradually the divine principle purifies the soul from its imperfec tions, the dross of old sins, the hindrances to God's indwelling.

Love acts like fire, consuming, purifying, and developing the jewels of virtue in the soul. "Its imperfections," says S. John of the Cross, "are lost in perfect love, as mould on metal is lost in fire."

The lover increasingly desires to serve Jesus, to do all it can for Him. It has a consuming zeal for His service and for souls. Jesus is its all, and its all is for Jesus.

In more elevated condition, nature being brought into control, Love reigns imperially. United to Jesus it ever looks to Him, waits on His will, lives in His smile.

Emptied of self, and love becoming the governing principle, the promise becomes fulfilled in ampler measure: — "We will come unto him and make our abode with him."

In union with the inner life of Christ, the soul rejoices in humilia tions, afflictions, losses, persecutions, suffering, and pain.

And so on, through purifying desolations and the "dark night of the Spirit," to the sweetness and peace of love "absorbing, trans forming, and deifying." In this life though inchoative, yet full of power and delight.

2OO

THE BEATIFIC VISION

ARTICLE VIII. THE BEATIFIC VISION

THE

BEATIFIC

VISION.

'The sight of God.

The light of glory.

The object of the vision.

The con summation of creation.

The finally blessed are gathered into a supernatural union with God,

and enjoy the sight of Him called the Beatific Vision. Here we see through a glass darkly, then face to face shall we see

Him as He is, and shall know even as we are known. This sight of God Himself, since our nature by itself is incapable of

attaining it, is vouchsafed us by the Light of Glory. This Light of Glory is not God Himself, but is a supernatural infused

power, elevating and strengthening the soul and spirit to see God.

"As habitual charity is given in heaven to love God, so an habitual

light is given to see Him," and with the light as with the love the

created life concurs. This light of glory is given not in proportion to a man's intellectual

powers. God does not bestow a supernatural reward upon natural

gifts, but upon virtues. The ignorant through their greater love of God will receive a greater

degree of light and happiness than the learned and intellectual who

have not so attained.

The union in glory means that "we shall see Him in all His adorable perfections, by a clear and unclouded perception of His Divine Es sence. We shall gaze with unspeakable delight and rapture upon that beauty, ever ancient and ever new. We shall drink in all knowl edge of its living source, unmingled by error or doubt. We shall see the august and sublime mystery of the most Holy Trinity and the Great Eternal God. See Him in the eternity of His duration, in the abysses of His mercies, in the spotlessness of His sanctity, in the severity of His justice, in the might of His irresistible power, in the charms of His captivating beauty, and in the splendour of His majesty and glory." l

This union with God is permanent and secures the soul in its sinless- ness and consequent happiness and bliss beyond all that we can here conceive.

In this state creation arrives at its perfection, and all evil, sin, separa tions, and miseries are done away, and the kingdom of righteousness and love and beauty is established forever.

The blessed have the joys of communion with one another, every tie here formed in grace is perfected there in love, and the saints and angels all unite in joyful worship of the Lamb.

The body changed and glorified, possessed of new powers of enjoy ment, will be united to the soul. It will be like that of the risen Christ, agile, subtle, incorruptible, glorified.

The life is not an inactive one of repose, but an ever-developing one, which never comes to the end of God's goodness and gifts because He is Infinite.

Happiness in Heaven, Chap. III.

PART FOUR WORSHIP

TRANSITION FROM THIRD TO FOURTH PART 208

TRANSITION FROM THE THIRD TO THE FOURTH PART

THE NECESSITY OF AN EXTERIOR AND SENSIBLE WORSHIP

	ine necessity.
	The duality.
TRANSITION
FROM THE THIRD TO < FOURTH PART.
	The character.
	The ^.result.

As God redeemed the body and soul of man, and both will be elevated into glory, God here as there is to be worshipped by both an interior and exterior and sensible worship.

As man is not only an intelligent, but a sensible being, gifted with different senses in intimate relations with the soul, he must manifest his inner sentiments through bodily action.

_An exterior, worship is thus due to God and is a necessity for man.

The dual form corresponds to man's nature and needs. Exposed, for his own gratification, to the seduction of the senses, he uses them in devotion to overcome their natural tendency.

Inclined to the neglect of God, and with difficulty realising Him, he is aided in his duty by an external worship.

Disposed to rest in the outward form, there is need of such as shall quicken his spiritual nature.

The two are thus to be so united as that the action of the soul be not hindered ; nor be so exclusively inward as to omit the worship due from the body.

We owe it to God to worship Him with our whole nature, with all the powers of our soul, and with all the gifts God has bestowed upon us.

It is therefore proper that all that art can do, in the way of architec ture, music, painting, should be made an offering to God in His worship.

For His Honour and Majesty, His worship should be most reverent and spiritual as commanding our homage.

The most understandable in language and ceremonial, that men may worship with "the spirit and understanding."

Most truly devotional, that it may engage the will and affections.

It must also be commemorative and symbolical, that it may be pre servative of the faith, for experience shows that where the tradi tional ceremonial has been laid aside a loss of the faith has followed.

"Worship is the expression of man's primal duty of submission and conformity to God's will.

Implying self-surrender, it is the basis of all our acts of praise, thanks giving, and petition.

It invokes into special operation, in the church and individuals, the divine life, working recoveries and removing obstacles.

By it souls are gathered into a stream of transforming influence and are lifted up into correspondence with the energies of the divine life.

MAN'S NATURE PERFECTED BY WORSHIP

ANALYSIS OF PART FOUR ON WORSHIP

MAN'S

NATURE PERFECTED BY WORSHIP.

Revealed principles.

Choral service.

Consecrated places.

The Liturgy.

Feast days.

Legal orna ments of the Anglican Church.

The Holy Eucharist : ceremonial.

Worship is of a dual character by word and act.

It is liturgical in form, choral in expression, ceremonial in character.

The Liturgy of the Church is the same in structure every where. It has the Church's authorisation and is marked by stability.

/'Music, as a gift of God, is to be employed in His worship.

I The Church's Music. Its beauty, holiness, and personal use. Its essential qualities. Liturgical. Its form and antiquity.

v. Plain Song. The singers: Priest, Choir, and People.

/"Meeting places with God. Symbols of religion. How ar- \ ranged in early times. Present form and construction.

'The Lord's Prayer. The Liturgy of the Apostles. The Drama of the Anglican Liturgy. Liturgical Year and its Seasons.

The Annunciation. The Nativity. Circumcision.

Presentation in the Temple. The Epiphany. Transfiguration . Palm Sunday. Maundy Thursday. Good Friday. ^Easter and Ascension.

r Feast of St. Anne. Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. Annunciation.

The Visitation of the Virgin Mary. Feast of the Purification. The Epochs of Her Life. -The Principal Feasts of the Saints and Angels.

J The Interpretation of the Ornaments Rubric. [ Legal Ornaments and Ceremonial.

f The Eastward Position of the Celebrant. "{ The Lawfulness of the Reservation of the Sacrament for the L sick in England and America.

The principal days and feasts of Christ.

The principal feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

WORSHIP

ao5

CHAPTER I. MAN'S NATURE PERFECTED BY WORSHIP

ARTICLE I. ITS DUAL FORM AND REVEALED PRINCIPLES

WORSHIP.

Its dual form ordained by God.

Its revealed

principles.

Liturgical.

God, who knoweth well man's nature and its needs, and also what is due Himself, hath revealed in Holy Scripture and by the Holy Spirit His own Mind and Will, as to the mode in which His creatures should approach Him.

From the beginning God made manifest His will that He should be worshipped after the archetype of His own being, in two ways, by word and act.

Thus in Paradise man offers the tree by abstinence therefrom, which was worship by act, and he communed with God, which was by word or mental action.

In the Jewish dispensation we find established the two forms, the worship of theSynagogue and the sacrificial worship of the Temple.

In the Christian church we have a combination of the Synagogue and Temple service, in the recitation of the divine offices and in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

The former being said in the choir, the latter being offered in the sanctuary at the altar.

'As man is a social being and owes a united service of worship to God, the service to be a common offering is necessarily liturgical.

As it is necessary, if a body of worshippers would unite in praising God by singing a hymn, that they should have a hymn book, so it is necessary, if they are to join in a common prayer together, a form in which they can all unite must be provided.

The sectarians who have no book, either listen to their minister while he prays, in which case they are only listeners and do not pray at all, or they follow him and make his words their own and so accept his form of prayer which is imposed upon them.

The church bringing the personal gifts and liberty of the spirit in prayer under the guidance of the Spirit actuating the whole body, provides forms which embody the wisdom and piety of the saints, and so protects the worshippers from the variable dispositions of the minister.

In the Old Testament we find forms of prayer commanded (Deu. xxi. and xxvi.), forms of blessing (Numbers vi.), the use of exist ing formulas (2 Chron. xxix. 30), the use of the Psalter in the synagogue, with prayer, blessings, and thanksgivings.

The Church's service, which provides special prayers for individual needs, and thanksgivings, expresses the common desires of those united in common prayer.

The example of Christ in taking part in the forms of prayer in the synagogue, and giving a form of prayer to His Apostles, saying "After this manner pray ye," is the Church's warrant for her use of forms in the divine offices.

ao6 MUSIC A REVEALED PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP

ARTICLE II. WORSHIP is TO BE CHORAL AND CEREMONIAL

MUSIC A

REVEALED PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP.

'Music

a gift.

Used in

divine

service.

Ordered in the Old Testament.

Employed in the New.

'Nature is full of music, earth and air and water are resonant with song, yet as waiting for its redemption and travailing in pain, it has its mournful as well as its exulting tones.

The gift of song is a heavenly gift and so being given is to be used in heavenly worship though man vulgarises it and abuses it to sensualities.

'Not alone does piety praise God in song, but in united service the ordered choirs stand in the temple and in the dignity of the ancient music give thanks unto the Lord.

Instruments, probably brought by David from other nations and added to those of Jewish origin, found employment in the wor ship of God and received the divine sanction.

"And the Levites, being arrayed in white linen, having cym bals and psalteries, and harps, stood at the east end of the altar and with them an hundred and twenty priests, sounding with trumpets." 2 Chron. v. 12.

'"And when they lifted up their voices with the trumpets, and cym bals, and instruments of music and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endureth forever," that then the house was filled with a cloud, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." 2 Chron. v. 13, 14.

At the rebuilding of the temple God through the choral service wrought a spiritual revival amongst the people.

When the builders laid the foundations of the temple, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites with cymbals, and as they sang together by course "the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers wept with a loud voice," and "the shout of joy could not be discerned from the voice of the weeping of the people." Ezra iii. 10-13.

The new dispensation is ushered in by the choir of angels singing the gospel from off the great rood screen of the skies. The Blessed Virgin and S. Simeon and Zacharias, under divine in spiration, give to the Church her three great Canticles. Christ and the Apostles entwine the chanting of the psalter about the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

As God in the old dispensation showed Moses the type of worship he was to follow, so in the new He gave to S. John a vision of worship which was to guide the Christian Church on earth. In it music, instrumental and choral, was to have its part.

Music is the art of self-expression and stirs deeper emotions than words convey. It is the language universal of heaven. All know it, all feel it, all participate in it.

And the four and twenty elders, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, sung a new song, saying, Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood.

ITS REVEALED PRINCIPLES

207

§3 ITS

REVEALED PRINCIPLES.

The same ness of the Liturgy.

The necessity of its Church authorisation.

Its stability .and beauty.

ARTICLE III. THE LITURGY

'In the primitive sense and by strictly theological usage the term "Liturgy" is applied to the prayers and rites for the adminis tration of the Eucharist.

It is sometimes used in a more general sense for the whole col lection of rites, ceremonies, and prayers established for the exercise of public worship.

By its worship the Church declares and gives sensible evidence of the divine mysteries, its faith, the means of salvation, its precepts and its adoration in spirit and in truth.

Hence its general structure, and the character of its worship is the same throughout Apostolic Christendom. There is every where worship by recitation of the divine office and the offer ing of the same Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice.

As the Liturgy is set forth to guard the faith, it is necessary it should be established by authority of the Church.

The sects, having no divine authority for their organisations, have no legitimate authority for setting forth forms by which God is to be worshipped.

Having lost priesthood they cannot offer the Eucharistic sacrifice. And having broken with the Church and tradition they have largely lost the liturgical sense.

Christ, by His word and example, commanded forms for common prayer and instituted the Memorial sacrifice of the new Covenant.

The Lord was not a reformer, He did not come to reform the Jewish law but to build upon it. He was a protestant against spiritual hypocrisy, but a churchman in His loyal observance of all the rites and ceremonial of the Church.

The Christian Church, as the unfolding of the old, has con structed on the former divine foundation, her polity and worship.

The difference between the East and the West, between Anglican and Roman liturgies, does not destroy the essential oneness of their worship.

'The subordination of each portion of the Catholic Church to the whole, secures the stability of the character of its liturgy.

In spite of the interruption of intercommunion, it is admitted by all that no portion can change the divine character of the Church's worship, alter aught that Christ commanded, or that which had Apostolic authority.

In matters of ceremonial it is doubtful whether any National church has a right to forbid the use of so scriptural and uni versally adopted a ceremony as incense, or give up the anointing of the sick.

" Lord, bring home the glorious lesson

To their hearts, who strangely deem That an unmajestic service

Doth Thy Majesty beseem. O our own true God Incarnate,

What should Christian Ritual be But a voice to utter somewhat

Of our pride and joy in Thee."

208

THE CHURCH'S MUSIC

CHAPTER II. THE Music OF THE CHURCH

ARTICLE I. ITS BEAUTY, HOLINESS, AND USE

WE ARE BIDDEN TO WORSHIP GOD, NOT ONLY IN HOLINESS, BUT IN ITS BEAUTY ALSO

As the Liturgy, by its structure, its inspired language, its devotional spirit, lifting man up and uniting him with God, is full of a divine glory and beauty, so should be its musical setting.

Church music is therefore necessarily separated in character from the operatic, where human passion finds expression, or the secular, which connects man with earth.

It is not only unworthy of the dignity of the God we worship, but deteriorating to our moral nature, to employ in Divine worship the popular songs of the street.

The reason why such music has been accepted and even demanded by some congregations has arisen partly from a loss of the sense of God's presence as the object of worship and a tendency to meas ure the value of worship chiefly by the subjective effect upon our selves.

Another reason has arisen from the ambition of choir masters and choirs to produce musical compositions beyond the powers of the singers and congregation.

Another quality which should characterise Church music is the Spirit of Holiness.

The Divine Offices and the Liturgy proper are full of a purpose of Holiness, — the expression of holy emotions, the enunciation of holy truths, the awakening of holy desires.

This Spirit of Holiness, the antagonism of worldliness, should thus characterise the musical setting of the service.

Music is not sacred merely because set to sacred words; it can only fairly be called sacred when it corresponds with their spirit.

Hence the holiness of sacred music depends upon its faithful reflec tion of the spiritual purpose of each group of the Liturgical words.

If, save on special occasions when the leading purpose is to make an offering to God of the highest productions of art, the Creed is so sung as to prevent the act of faith on the part of the congregation, the music, no longer corresponding with the spiritual purpose of the text, loses the quality of holiness.

' Music can be used, and is now mostly used, in the service of world liness and sensuality.

Those who have the gift should cultivate it as a gift and consecrate its use for the glory of God.

In more devout times and in more devout persons it was so. S. Jerome describes the ploughman who as he held the plough would, in stead of love-songs, sing his Alleluias; the reaper, heated with his toil, and the vine-dresser, with his curved pruning-hook in his hand, who would be chanting one of the Psalms of David.

In the Church, as Canon Bright pleaded, it should take its pattern from the heavenly worship.

" Surely there a pattern shone How the Church should do her worship When she came before the Throne."

	rlis beauty. •<
THE
CHURCH'S •< Music.	Its holiness. "
	Its per sonal and.
	.Church use.

THE CHURCH'S MUSIC

209

ARTICLE II. THE CHURCH'S Music

ITS THREE ESSENTIAL QUALITIES / Liturgy.

CONSIDERED AS TO THE \lts Form and Antiquity.

THE CHURCH'S <> Music.

Primarily liturgical.

Its form.

Its

.antiquity.

The office of music is to aid the worshipper to enter into the meaning of the divine Offices and Liturgy, to interpret and make them ap plicative, to elevate the soul by their devotional vocal expression.

While primarily an accompaniment of the Liturgy, the Church has by canon and custom not excluded a larger employment of the musical art.

Thus hymns may be freely introduced outside the strict liturgical form of service and in specified places within them, and Anthems in scrip tural or liturgical words or others approved by the Ordinary.

Instrumental music may be used either as an accompaniment of what is sung, or of what in the Liturgy is being done, or in processions.

All music, vocal or instrumental, should not only accompany the words of the Liturgy, but partake of its qualities, for in proportion as it does so, it is excellent or the reverse.

'The first quality to be observed is Form, for the Liturgy is a work of art, like the structure of a drama, and as such possesses Form.

Good ecclesiastical music is controlled by this Form, whereby it pos sesses the character of truth and sincerity.

Thus large portions of the Liturgy are responsive between priests and people, as representatives of Christ in the Church, and so the music of these portions should be antiphonal.

Again, the music should in no wise alter the arrangement of the words, or prolong portions of the text out of due proportion, by repeating them, or accompany with different musical motifs portions having the same liturgical forms.

Thus the Psalter should not be sung by a choir in the form of a cantata, with solos, quartets, etc., but should preserve its liturgical form of Psalmodic antiphony.

'That vocal music was used from earliest times is witnessed by Pliny's letter to the Emperor Trajan, that the Christians "held meetings before daybreak to sing to Christ as God."

Portions of Christian hymns liturgical scholars have discovered in the New Testament, e. g., "Awake thou that sleepest," etc.

In the fourth century the chanting of the psalms antiphonally became general.

S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, and S. Gregory all expressed their delight in Church Music. 14

2IO

THE CHURCH'S MUSIC

f Priest

ARTICLE HI. THE MATTER, MANNER, THE SINGERS < Choir.

{^People.

'The Church's music should be participated in by the whole body of the Faithful, for a deterioration of the spiritual life follows when the wor ship is left to the choir.

In the divine Office the parts to be sung or chanted are first the Canticles. These are the Church's divinely inspired hymns, and of these the Mag nificat has the preeminence.

THE

CHURCH'S

Music.

•What should be sung.

Plain song.

Priest

and

people.

As connected with the glorious mystery of the Incarnation, the Mag nificat may well be accompanied with all the stately dignity that the Church's ceremonial allows to be given to it.

It is a question among Liturgical scholars, where the Office hymn should be introduced. A place is provided after the third Collect where it may be sung, or it might be introduced just before the Magnificat.

Next to the importance of the Evangelical Canticles comes the Psalter, which, as the Church's sacred book of song, is very rightly to be chanted.

As to the method of chanting, none has ever approached in the three qualities of truth to the Liturgy — as to Form, Beauty, and Sanctity — the ancient method, known indifferently as Plain Song or Gregorian Chant.

The secrets of beauty and principles of application of this Chant, lost from the fifteenth century to almost the present time, have been happily rediscovered and restored by the researches of the French Benedictines of Solesmes and by a number of Anglican scholars.

Besides the Psalms, there should be sung at Matins and Evensong the Versicles and Responses, "Oh Lord open thou our lips," etc., those after the Creed, and the three Collects.

The introductory sentences, Confession, Paternoster, Creed, should be said in an ordinary tone, as should the Grace and the concluding Prayers.

At Mass, the people should join, as far as possible, in the Kyrie, Creed, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Gloria.

Of these it is most important that all should sing the Creed, which for that reason might be set to simple music of small range and without repetitions.

It is most desirable that the ancient chant of the Creed universally sung alone from the seventh to the fifteenth century, should be widely restored.

The people should sing all the responses and amens after the Collect, Prayer for the Church Militant, Consecration, and Blessing.

The Priest sings or intones the Collect, Gospel, "I believe in one God," "our only Mediator and Advocate," "Sursum Corda," Preface, "World without end," "Our Father," "Glory be to God on High," Blessing.

CONSECRATED PLACES

211

"As meeting places with God.

CHAPTER III ARTICLE I. THE PROPRIETY OF CONSECRATED PLACES OP WORSHIP

Wherever we may be, God is there, and where He is, there we may worship Him.

The world is one great temple wherein He manifests Himself and where, immanent in it, He dwells behind the veil.

By it He declares His wisdom and beauty, and draws us through it into a union with Himself.

But it has been His will in love to us, to establish certified places where He covenants to meet man.

So it has been in the Old and New Dispensations. In the Old, the Tabernacle and Temple were set apart by solemn consecration.

There God promised that, "I will meet with thee," and for this reason was it called the "House of God," and Christ called it, "His Father's House."

•At the consecration of the first temple, God showed His accept ance of it, for "the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord."

The second temple was also accepted and made especially glorious by our Lord's presentation in it.

The one Jewish temple is now multiplied and extended in all lands in the consecrated Christian temples, which are rendered most glorious by the abiding Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The Tabernacle and Temple were not only as majestical and beautiful as the art of man could make them, but were ordered by God to be declarative of His presence, and symbolical in their teaching.

The three divisions of the Tabernacle into Court, Holy Place, and Holy of Holies set forth the condition of man under the Law of Grace and of Glory.

Under the Law man had to bear the burden and heat of the day,

§ 1 symbolised by the unsheltered court. He could only offer sacri-

CONSECRATED < fices which could not purify the conscience.

PLACES. The Holy Place symbolised the Christian Dispensation. None

could enter it save the priests, after washing their feet in the water contained in the brazen laver, telling how we, as Chris tians by Baptism, enter into the Church.

There in the Holy Place was the Golden Table with the bread, twelve loaves, symbolising the Church of Christ made one bread by union with Christ, the Living Bread.

The Seven-branched Candlestick also declared Christ as the True Light. The Golden Altar of Incense, on which was sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice and whose efficacy was carried by the incense offered toward the Holy of Holies, also told of Christ as our Mediator and Advocate.

Within the Holy of Holies was the Ark, which by its two materials of wood and gold told of Christ's two Natures ; while within, the Tables of the Law told of His fulfilment of the Law ; and the Mercy-seat above, of His Vicarious Sacrifice.

Not less significant were the three veils; one of which hung at the entrance of the Outer Court, one at that of the Holy Place, the last being the Portal to the Holy of Holies.

The Veil signified Christ as the Door, and its colours, always the same, of blue, scarlet, and purple, denoted His three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. Blue as being the colour of the heavens through which light comes, purple denoting His King ship, scarlet, His Priesthood and Sacrifice.

On the Day of Atonement the High Priest sprinkled, seven times with blood, the inner side of the Veil before the Ark, and the rending of the Veil at the Crucifixion betokened the opening of a new Living Way through Christ's Humanity into the Holy of Holies.

Symbols -of religion.

212

THE CHRISTIAN BUILDINGS

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH BUILDINGS

§2 THE

CHRISTIAN BUILDINGS.

'In early times.

As now .arranged.

"Solemn duties of Public Service to be done unto God," says Hooker, "must have their places prepared in such sort as beseemeth action of that regard."

The first Christian Temple was the large upper room which our Lord had taken by His divine authority, dedicated by the celebra tion of the Holy Eucharist, and consecrated by the sending of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.

The condition of the Church was such at first that she could not build temples, but had for a time, like Israel in the Wilderness, to wait till the ages of persecution were passed, and she entered into her prom ised inheritance.

Then she began to take, as symbolising victory over the world, old temples and basilicas and adapted them to her worship.

Here was first the outer court, the ante-temple, called the Narthex, where the catechumens and those undergoing penance assembled.

The second and great division of the Church was the Naos or Nave. Here were placed in its lower portion the advancing orders of peni tents, and the body of the faithful divided as to sexes, the women at one side and the men at the other.

The third division of the Church, somewhat elevated above the other, containing the Altar and the Sanctuary, was called the Bema.

Behind the Altar, which stood apart from the wall, was the Bishop's throne, and on either side the seats for the priests. Here were placed the Ambo or I^ectern, and here, near the steps of the Chancel, stood the Chorus or Choir.

In the development of Christian worship the East and the West de veloped somewhat different styles of architecture.

In the West, Gothic art was the product of Catholic faith. While the Grecian temples with their horizontal and perpendicular lines clung to earth, and Roman architecture manifested the principle of strength in its arch and dome, the Gothic arch with spire and tower pierced towards heaven. Its whole arrangement symbolises the faith of the Christian Creed.

The Font, standing by the door, tells of the entrance into the Body of Christ by baptism.

The Nave, from navis, a ship, tells of the Church as the Ark of Safety passing through the waves of this troublesome world.

The elevated Choir, divided by its Rood Screen from the Nave, tells of the Church Expectant. And so very properly the screen has upon itself the Cross or Rood, not unfrequently with the text, "When we pass through the valley of the shadow of death we shall fear no evil, for Thy rod and Thy staff comfort us."

The Sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, contains the Altar. At once the Altar for offering sacrifice, and a holy table for our feeding upon it.

While in the English Prayer Book the word Altar is not used, it is found in the coronation service, and several times in the American Prayer Book, in the Institution Office.

As the Altar is the throne of the Great King, it has ever been a reverent custom to make some act of reverence before it, in like manner as is done to an earthly king's throne, or by an American in his saluta tion to the country's flag.

While the holy of holies of the Jewish temple was in the West, as the whole system of the Jewish sacrifices pointed to the death of Christ, the Christian temple became turned to the East, symbolical of its „ worship as connected with the risen Christ.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

2l3

CHAPTER IV

ARTICLE I. THE LORD'S PRAYER

	'Its Name.
	In general.
§ 1 THE LORD'S PRAYER.
	Its divisions.

The prayer is called the "Lord's Prayer" because, possibly in part com piled, but chiefly composed by Himself.

Whether He used it Himself can only be supposed on the theory that He did it as identifying Himself with human nature and its needs.

The prayer has been called a "Breviary of the whole Gospel." S. Augustine, "Symbolum traditum," Saint Cyril calls it "the divinely taught prayer," and Bishop Andrews, "a compendium of the Faith."

The question as to the origin of the doxology seems to be settled by the discovery of "the Teaching of the Apostles," which was written about A. D. 80, and in which it is found.

In this work the prayer is found almost word for word as it is in the re ceived text of S. Matthew's Gospel.

It was given by our Lord as a Rule and Model of prayer. He said, "after this manner pray ye," and the manner was that of a prescribed form.

It thus sanctions the use of forms of prayer in public or common service.

It does not, however, confine us to the exclusive use of these words, but commends to us the proper subjects of prayer.

It being a gift of our Lord, it appropriately enters into every service, and is given the place of honour or distinction in the divine office and sacraments.

It is a prayer of special efficacy, for He who commended the prayer to be made, pledged Himself thereby to grant its answer. It has in con sequence been assigned a semi-sacramental character as a prayer full of promise.

"It contains every divine promise, every human sorrow, and every Christian aspiration for the good of others." — Lange.

Here in the depths of the new covenant we have a prayer plain and simple enough for babes, deep and inscrutable for the wise.

"Learn to make it thy prayer and it will interpret itself daily to thee with ever deepening impressiveness, from the Father-name which it places • on thy lips down to the Amen of faith." — Stier.

The prayer was probably given by our Lord on two occasions, once in public, S. Matt, vi., and once in private, S. Luke xi., showing its utility in both public and private devotions.

It consists of an address to God in His parental relationship to us as Father.

As there are two tables in the Decalogue, so, says S. Augustine, there are two parts to the Lord's prayer.

First, three acts of adoration, with petitions for the increase of His Glory, His Kingdom, and Service.

Next, four petitions for our temporal and spiritual benefit, providential protection, and final end.

^Lastly, an ascription of praise and glory.

• i i

THE LORD'S PRAYER

It excels all others in dignity and signification, as given and enjoined by God Himself, and therefore should be devoutly studied and reverently used.

It is most deep in its meanings. In the first part we have set forth the sanctity of the Creator, the Kingdom of the Redeemer, the outpouring of the Sanctifier.

In the second part the Bounty of the Father, the propitiatory work of the Son, the controlling power of the Holy Ghost.

Mystics have also arranged the prayer in correspondence with the Beatitudes, the Seven Gifts of the Spirit, the defence against the seven deadly sins.

It is most comprehensive as applicable to every want, temporal and spiritual ; and as containing every object of prayer, praise, thanks giving, and petition.

It excels all in its fullness. It asks for heavenly good, "Thy King dom come;" — for spiritual good, "Thy will be done;" — for temporal, "Give us our daily bread."

It asks for the removal of all evil, past, present, and future. Past, when we say, "Forgive us our trespasses ; " future, in the petition, "Lead us not into temptation; " from present evil, when we pray, "Deliver us from evil."

It is wonderful in its adaptability. When any special benefit for the Church, or oneself, or others is sought, the prayer may be said for the obtaining of it, pausing on each phrase and applying it to that special purpose.

Our Lord forbade the use of many words without heart as empty utterances, but not serious repetitions, such as in the garden He used Himself.

It was one of the errors of the Puritans to object "to its frequent repetition in divine service," for each repetition has a new pur pose and new meaning.

The saying of the Lord's prayer develops fixedness of attention and concentration on God as the object of prayer, by leaving the mind unperplexed in pouring out its wants.

It tends to produce spiritual calmness as freeing us from the dis turbances which come from our not knowing whether we are asking according to God's will or not.

It enables us when praying for some particular thing to view it in its various aspects, having reference to its eternal and temporal interests. It thus gives breadth of vision to the soul.

The prayer excels also in its brevity, for which seven reasons have been given : —

1. That it may be quickly known.

2. That it may be better remembered.

3. That it may be oftener said.

4. That there may be no weariness in saying it.

5. That there may be no excuse for being ignorant of it.

6. That it may be shown how quickly God hears.

7. That it may be accompanied with more heart than voice.

§2 THE LORD'S PRAYER (continued).

Its excellence.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

2l5

"From early times it was used in the Church worship. In the "Teach ing of the Apostles" it was said, "as the Lord commanded in His Gospel this prayer, 'Our Father,' three times a day pray ye thus."

The Catechumens, as S. Augustine states, were taught to pray "Our Father" when made children in Baptism. "Receive," it was said, "the precious jewel and keep it: receive the prayer which God Himself has taught us to bring before God."

The Puritans rejecting all forms of prayer neglected the use of this, although given by Christ and certified by the common use of the Church.

The full meaning of the prayer as understood by the Church contains a revelation of the Gospel.

THE

LORD'S •< PRAYER (continued).

Its

Christian character.

The saluta tion.

In it we approach God, as the Eternal Father, and honour His Name ; as the Son Incarnate and our Redeemer we pray "Thy Kingdom come;" by the petition, "Thy will be done" we invoke the Holy Ghost through whose agency God's will comes to be fufilled. We ask for the daily bread, not merely for the earthly food, but for that Supersubstantial Bread that feeds the soul to life eternal. We plead for forgiveness (ourselves forgiving others) through the min istration and by the power of the Precious Blood. We ask God not to allow us to be so assaulted by temptation, but with it to make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it.

We beseech the divine providence, by the guardianship of the holy angels, to preserve us from all bodily and spiritual harm.

We ascribe all to His power and glory, which we ask for in the Kingdom.

"Our Father which art in heaven."

As the Christian life has for its basis the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, so the great prayer begins with them.

It is by an act of faith we say "Our Father." We are not Agnostics tossed on the troubled sea of doubt. Nor believers in a pantheistic conception that the All is God and God is the All. To us there is one living, loving, personal Being.

One who stands to us in a double relation as a father. A father be cause He has made us and so we are His offspring. "The Father's Name is sweet to every child of man." But nearer, closer, dearer, because we are His by a new birth, and He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts whereby we cry, "Abba Father."

We make an act of hope when we say, "which art in heaven." For He abideth in a state of glory and bliss which is ever undisturbed. He is in the exercise of that sovereignty that makes all things sub ordinate to His will. He is in those heavenly places which He is preparing, and to which we hope to attain.

It is by an act of charity we say "Our Father." God deals with the race and redeems it. He deals with the Church and sanctifies it. He does not save us as separated individuals, but as members of a body.

In praying for ourselves we pray for others also.

"The name Father loses its significance when we will not use it as members of a family."

The prayer is thus one of Fatherhood and Brotherhood. Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of men.

2l6

THE LORD'S PRAYER

First petition.

"Hallowed be Thy Name."

Having, by addressing God, entered into His presence, the first duty of the worshipper is to prostrate himself in an act of adoration.

The practice of Adoration is, as distinct from admiration, a mark of the Christian character. In the absolute prostration of spirit that it implies it differs from thanksgiving, praise, and supplicating prayer. Pure adoration has no heart for self. It lies before the throne conscious of its own nothingness and the greatness of God.

The words, "hallowed be Thy Name," are not then primarily a peti tion, but are an act of reverence and worship.

The name of God being in the Scriptures expressive of God Himself, we cannot pray that He who is perfectly holy may be hallowed, for His sanctity cannot be increased.

But as we ascribe all glory, power, and majesty to Him, so we wor- shipfully ascribe all sanctity in hallowing.

Our act of adoration is made in spirit along with all those associated with us in our prayers. It invokes the saints and angels. It calls upon them to praise and bless and glorify God.

It is an act that recognises the Communion of Saints, and the oneness of the mystical body.

It bids them worship Him for all the manifestations of His Name, in creation, providence, and Redemption.

"Thy Kingdom come."

Having first adored God", next we pray "Thy Kingdom come."

The establishment of the Kingdom of Righteousness is the final pur pose of creation and the cause dearest to God.

God's great cause should be our great cause. Everything else should be subordinate to it.

The prayer involves our consecration to God's service.

The Kingdom prayed for, is that over which Christ exercises His mediatorial reign, and which will be completed in glory when God will be all in all.

It is a Kingdom within men, but which has an outward manifestation of its inner life.

The indwelling Trinity has a governmental representative in the three orders of the ministry. The faith finds expression in the creeds — Love in union and worship.

This Kingdom is in antagonism with the world, but its victory lies not in meeting the world with a like world power but with faith. It was before the spiritual power of the Church that the Roman Empire gave way. It was the life within that made the martyrs triumph over death.

This Kingdom has come, but as it is not yet complete we pray for its coming.

We pray for the extension of Christianity, for the conversion of the Jews, the gathering in of the heathen, the recovery of the un believing, the rousing of the indifferent, the recalling of the worldly, the overthrow of Satan, and for the return of Christ and His com ing in glory.

§ 4 THE LORD'S PRAYER (continued).

Second petition.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

217

'"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

In the order of spiritual growth after self-consecration the soul's next effort is to aim after perfection.

Perfection consists in the union of the human will with God's will.

God's will may be regarded in two aspects. First, God's absolute will, eternal, unchangeable, and efficacious. "My counsel shall stand and I will do all Thy pleasure."

In the security of this eternal decree the soul remains unterrified amidst all earthly calamities and all oppositions of unbelief.

Secondly, there is God's permissive will, the "will of His good pleas ure," which orders or allows all that relates to our individual lives.

With this will also we are to conform our wills. The soul in joyous ecstasy loses itself in the will of God, and finds its joy in that God has His will, which, because it is His, is that of the Christian.

So on earth, always, everywhere, in all things, His will is to be done as readily, constantly, gladly, lovingly as it is done in heaven.

-In this way the soul reaches its perfection.

§ 5 THE

LORD'S -<

PRAYER (continued).

Third petition.

Fourth petition.

"Give us this day our daily bread."

There has been much philological discussion over the exact terminol ogy of this petition.

A reasonable interpretation is that God is asked to give us this day the Bread needed for our subsistence, temporal and spiritual.

The petition reveals the Christian's attitude to God and creatures. He looks to God in a spirit of thanksgiving, dependence, trust.

God the gracious giver orders events, and gives not to idlers, but gives to men the health and mind wherewith to work and obtain their reward.

So He gives us our daily bread. He does not promise luxuries to our harm, but bread to our needs.

God gives to all faithful toilers even more than for their absolute needs, in order that they may have that to offer back in grateful sacrifice to Him.

Praying for all others we acknowledge thereby our duty to help the poor and sick and disabled to obtain their daily bread. Grateful love to God and charity to man hides itself in this petition.

The petition moreover asks for the supersubstantial Bread. The Bread from heaven — the Holy Eucharist — God's best and great est gift to man.

It reveals also the spiritual law of living day by day, of living one day - at a time in our walk with God.

2l8

THE LORD'S PRAYER

"And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors."

The revealed order of the spiritual life has been, Adoration, Conse cration, Perfection. Then the sacramental means of grace follow.

First the Eucharist, the Bread by which we are made one with Christ, and this involves the priesthood to consecrate and offer it.

Next the Sacraments of forgiveness; Baptism by which our debts are forgiven, and Absolution by which our original cleansing is preserved.

Accepted in Christ ; yet as there is no man that sinneth not, we need "a continual application of the precious Blood."

As the cross reveals to us the nature of our sins as acts committed against God, so it reveals to us the means of reconciliation.

As God for Christ's sake freely forgives us, so we being forgiven, for His sake forgive others. Christ's love conquers us, and by it we conquer ourselves.

§6

THE LORD'S PRAYER (continued) .

Fifth petition.

Sixth petition.

'"And lead us not into temptation."

We pray that God's Providence would keep us from occasions dan gerous to us, and not bring us into temptation.

We recognise the fact that trials and temptations are necessary for the development of the Christian character.

We do not pray God not to let temptations come to us, but not to bring us into them as under their power.

We pray God not to suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but with the temptation make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it.

We pray for grace to distrust self, fear and hate sin, trust in God, for we cannot meet temptations in our own strength. The Sacraments of Confirmation and Matrimony are given us for this end.

As Christ met temptation depending on God and His Word, so are we to meet it in Christ. Tempted to unbelief we cling to Him. "Lord to whom shall we go."

Tempted to sensuality in youth, to worldliness in middle life, to self love throughout life and in old age, we have in an abiding sorrow for forgiven sin, in humility and union with Christ, our protection.

The temptations of Satan are apt to come after the reception of some grace.

They are known by their suddenness, by suggestions of doubt, by despondencies. But God never despairs of us, so we must never despair of ourselves, and His grace is more powerful to heal than sin to wound.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

219

"Deliver us from evil."

Deliver may mean, rescuing us from some calamity, or guarding us from it.

If some evil has befallen us, like Joseph in prison, or the Israelites in bondage, or Daniel in the lion's den, or Peter in his chains, or Paul in his shipwrecks, we may ask God to deliver us.

If sickness comes to us as to Hezekiah, or want as to Sarepta's widow, or affliction as to Martha and Mary, or to the widow of Nain, we may ask His divine aid, use Unction in sickness, and pray Him who went about doing good to help us and not let the evil separate us from Him.

If the Church is slack in its duties, or is being tried by false teachers, or is persecuted by the world, we can call on Him who is in the ship to still the storm, and give us again success in His service.

If we are assaulted by the evil one, or by spiritual trials, or by our worst enemy "self," let us take ourselves to His succour.

"Christ and His cleansing blood, Christ and the grace of His Spirit, Christ and the virtues which Christ creates in man, are more than a match for evil." — Liddon.

"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen."

The doxology forms a fitting summary and conclusion to the prayer. "Thine is the Kingdom," embraces the first table.

"Thine is the power," is the fulfilment of the petitions of the second. "Thine the glory," is the consummation of God's creative and re demptive work.

•

The Kingdom is God's, not ours. Thine is the power. Man quarrelling with his fellow makes up issues which he asks God to settle. "Be on our side, for we are in the right."

But God does not allow men to make up issues for His settlement. For the Kingdom is His, and He is working out plans of His own, not our plans.

"Thine is the power." Man has a certain power over nature, but the power behind it is God. He is "Creation's secret force."

And as in nature, "Thou art a God that hidest Thyself," so it is in the Sacraments of grace. Love must make itself known, but true power loves hiddenness. "He is in the clefts of the rock."

"Thine is the glory." Hiddenly, the world's progress lies in this prayer. Men begin to call on the Name of God. The Kingdom comes. Christ the perfectly obedient Will-doer arrives. The Bread from heaven is given. The Redemption is completed. The forms of good and evil clash, the deliverance is perfected. The final stage is reached. Evil is forever done away.

The glory of God, the glory of Christ, the glory of the Church shall be manifested eternally, and each amen uttered here is the anticipa tion of the great universal Amen of all creation.

	Seventh
	petition.
§7
THE
LORD'S
PRAYER
(concluded).
	The
	^. doxology.

22O

THE LITURGY OF THE APOSTLES

ARTICLE I.

CHAPTER V THE LITURGY OF THE APOSTLES

THE LITURGY OF THE APOSTLES.

In obedience to Christ.

The order of their Liturgy.

Features of it.

Its

Ceremonial.

'In obedience to the Lord's command the Apostles celebrated the Holy Eucharist. Only by virtue of such a command would they have ventured to stand in our Lord's place and do what He had done.

Was it by the same one or by all in turns or by a concelebration, all humbly and charitably acting together?

Concelebration is a custom in the Eastern Church, is preserved in the Roman at the Ordination of Priests, and the Anglican Rubric which requires the priest to remain in the same place where hands were laid on him probably is a remaining witness to the same custom.

The Apostles must necessarily have adopted and followed some order, and S. Augustine thinks S. Paul was referring to it in I Tim. ii. 1. "I exhort, therefore, first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving be made for all men."

"Supplications," he says, are those which in the Celebration of the Mysteries are addressed to God before we begin to bless that which is upon the Holy Table.

The "Prayers" said are those when one blesses or sanctifies what one breaks.

The "Intercessions" follow when the Bishops in their character as advocates present their clients to the All merciful Goodness. When all is finished and communion made, "Thanksgiving" con cludes the whole.

There was thus, first, the preparatory prayers of supplication. Very likely then there followed Scriptural lessons such as the reading of the Prophets, then from the Epistles, for we know S. Paul com manded his epistles to be read in Church, and as the Eucharist was the only Service, it would be read then.

The Gospels may have followed, as we read of S. Luke, that his

praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches. fOther features of the Liturgy found in Holy Scripture are the Saluta tion. "The Lord be with you." The Pax or benediction and the ritual act or kiss of peace expressive of charity are mentioned. Also the liturgical use of "amen" by the laity at the giving of thanks. A collection of Alms, a sermon according to the direc tion given to Timothy and Titus. The singing of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs, the solemn consecration of the Elements with the fraction of the Bread. The Communion, "For the bread which we break, is it not a participation of the Body of Christ ? "

It would be impossible to suppose, after Christ's command, that ^ the Lord's Prayer did not form a portion of the Liturgy. ' Following the ceremonial observed by Christ, Who celebrated after rising from supper, the celebrant would stand.

As Christ probably stood on the same side of the Holy Table as the Apostles, thus identifying them with Himself, He took what we now call the Eastward position.

From S. Paul's appeal to Christians to keep the Feast with the un leavened bread, we may infer probably that unleavened bread was used at the Eucharist.

There must have been lights used at the Last Supper, and in the description of the Celebration at Troas it is recorded that there were "many lights," which would have been an unnecessary statement if it had not had some ceremonial significance.

The vestments used were the two common in that day, and worn by our Lord, and which have been perpetuated in our modern alb and chasuble.

The mixed chalice was a Passover rite, and was observed by our Lord, and continued by His Apostles.

Our Lord's action being unique, incense was not used at the Last Supper, for while incense might be offered by the Wise Men to Him, He could not connect what would symbolise the prayers of the Saints with His own all sufficient, meritorious, unique, re demptive work.

WITNESSES TO THE LITURGY

221

§ 1

WITNESSES

TO THE

LITURGY.

'S. Ignatius A. D. 107.

S. Justin, Martyr A. D. 140.

S. Irenaeus A. D. 177 Bk. IV. § 3.

Tertullian A. D. 196.

S. Cyprian A. D. 258-

S. Cyril of Jerusalem A. D. 350-386.

S. Athanasius A. D. 373.

ARTICLE II. WITNESSES TO THE LITURGY

"They (the Docetae) abstain from Eucharist and prayer because they confess not that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ."

Testifies to the meeting on Sundays and the offering of the Sacri fice, i.e. the bread and cup of the Eucharist and the sending of the Sacrament to the absent.

He declared that the food, by the prayer of the Word, is the Flesh and Blood of the Incarnate Jesus.

Testifies to the presence as caused by the act of consecration. "When, therefore, the mixed chalice and the creature bread receive the Word of God, the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, is made."

So they (i.e. the elements), by the Spirit of God having received the Word of God, become the Eucharist which is the Body and Blood of Christ. "The bread over which thanks are given is the Body of our Lord and the cup is the cup of His Blood."

While we may not cite Tertullian, being a heretic, for doctrine, we may for historical facts. He makes mention of the chalices engraved with representations of the Good Shepherd; of the priest's prayers with arms extended; of the Eucharist as cele brated every common day ; of yearly offerings for the departed ; of the Lord s Prayer as following the Canon ; and as connect ing the presence with the communion, He calls the Sacrament the "Sacrament of Benediction," and refers to the reserving of it for private communion.

Bears witness to the mixed chalice and its meaning. "We see that in the water is understood the people, in the wine is showed forth the Blood of Christ. By the water mingled in the cup with wine is signified that the people are made one with Christ, and indissolubly.

He quotes the Sursum Corda. The priest prepares the hearts of the brethren by saying, " Lift up your hearts," and they respond, "We lift them up unto the Lord."

He believed in the practice of Infant Communion as is the present custom in the East.

He prays that our Bread, that is, Christ, may be given to us daily.

In his catechetical lectures we have references to the Lavabo, the Kiss of peace, the Sursum Corda, the Ter-Sanctus, the great Intercession for the quick and the dead, the Our Father.

In the Invocation, S. Cyril says, "we pray God to send the Holy Ghost that the bread may be made the Body of Christ and the wine the Blood of Christ." "Before the invocation the ele ments were simply bread and wine, but the invocation being effected, the bread becomes the Body of Jesus and the wine His Blood." " Be persuaded that what seems bread is not bread though bread by taste but the Body of Christ : and what seems wine is not wine though the, taste would have it so, but the Blood of Christ."

We have a reference to the ceremony of bringing in the elements and placing them on the altar. "Thou wilt see the Levites (deacons) bearing bread and a cup of wine and placing them on the Table ; so long as the prayers have not taken place bare is the bread and cup, but when the great and wonderful prayers have been completed over it, then the bread becometh the Body; the cup, the Blood of Christ."

222

§2 WITNESSES

TO THE

LITURGY (concluded).

S. Jerome.

S. Chrysostom.

Liturgical origins.

Eastern and

Western

forms.

This father refers to the Eucharistic lights. "Through al! the Churches of the East, at the reading of the Gospel, lamps are lighted, although the sun is then shining." He gives this as a symbol of joy and thanksgiving. In regard to the Sacra ment he says, "At the prayers of the priest the Body and _ Blood is (confiatur) made."

We gain from him many details of the service, how the celebrant salutes the people saying, "Peace be unto you," and the "Lord be with you," to which the people respond, "And with thy spirit." He makes mention of the lessons from the Old Testament, the Epistles and Gospel, the Gloria in Excelsis, the rood screen or Iconastasis with its curtain or veil.

He refers to prayers for the dead, "It is not in vain that we offer for the dead, it is not without reason that the minister cries, 'Let us pray for those also asleep in Christ.'"

Concerning the Sacrament he says, "It is not man who makes the offered gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ Himself crucified for us; the priest stands uttering the words, 'This is My Body,' the power and grace of which are from God. As to ourselves it is no more upon a cradle that we behold Him, it is upon an altar; it is no more in the arms of a woman, it is in the hands of a priest."

"The priest invokes the Holy Ghost, who accomplishes this awful sacrifice', and the priest holds in his hands the Lord of the universe."

ITS VARIETIES

'In principle the Liturgy consists in the observation of the

Gospel rite of the Eucharist as commanded by our Lord. The Holy Spirit revealed to S. John the worship of heaven,

and how the worship on earth was to be identified with it. Under the Spirit's guidance the Church's worship became

liturgical, ceremonial, symbolical, choral, and glorious. At first the Liturgy was probably in large part memorised, and

the form used at Jerusalem was carried into other countries.

Thus the Liturgy of S. James as it is called became the basis

of the subsequent Eastern rites of S. Chrysostom and S. Basil. These are still in use in Russia and Greece. They are far more

symbolical and devotional than those of the Western Church.

The Eastern Liturgies are divided into three groups, that of S. James, S. Basil, and S. Chrysostom belonging to the Patri archate of Antioch. The Alexandrian comprises S. Mark's Liturgy and its derivatives and the Eastern Syrian Liturgies.

In the West there is the Roman, the Mozarabic, the Gallican, and the Ambrosian.

The original Roman Liturgy was probably in Greek. It is im possible to trace any historical connection between the Roman found now in use and the primitive Liturgy of Rome. "It has no certain history prior to the times of Popes Gelasius, Leo, and Gregory." It was not of universal use in the West. The Gallican Liturgy was in use in Gaul, the Mozarabic in Spain, the Ambrosian at Milan, and at Ravenna and Aquileia there were variations from the Roman use.

The Celtic and British Liturgy shows signs of Gallican and Eastern services. Comper, Liturgies, Part II, 169.

SUMMARY OF THE LITURGIES

223

ARTICLE III. SUMMARY OF THE LITURGIES

SUMMARY OF THE LITURGIES.

1. Under different names the Liturgies, East and West, have two divisions. In the East they are called Anaphora and Pro-Anaphora.

The word Anaphora, meaning sacrifice, relates to the part beginning with the Sursum Corda and contains the canon.

In the West the distinction is marked by the term, "Missa catechumenorum, and Missa Fidelium." The distinction bears witness to the time when the penitents and catechumens withdrew before the offering was made.

2. In the West the Liturgy begins with an Introit. In the East there are three

Antiphons with prayers.

3. The Kyrie Eleison is in common use, and the Gloria in Excelsis with some

verbal differences.

4. In the older forms there were three Scripture readings. The Prophecy from

the Old Testament, the Epistle, and the Gospel. A Psalm or text might be farced between by way of gradual or tract.

5. The use of incense was common to all Liturgies. The Eastern Church never

celebrates without it. It regards the non-use of it as an irreverent Roman custom.

6. There were always two oblations, first of the unconsecrated elements which

are solemnly offered to the Lord. This in the East is attended with much dignity.

7. The Kiss of peace was in all Liturgies, and is retained in all save the Anglican

rite.

8. The Sursum Corda, the Ter-Sanctus, the Benedictus qui venit are of great

antiquity.

9. The Consecration prayer including Christ's words of Institution, the Solemn

oblation, the invocation of the Holy Spirit is universal.

10. The Great Intercession follows. Remembrance was made for the living and the

dead. In the Scotch rite the prayer for Christ's Church Militant comes in this place.

11. The Our Father. The dominical prayer always has the place of dignity. This

rule is observed in the Book of Common Prayer.

12. The Fraction and Commixture are in all Rites. It ihould be observed by all

Anglican priests. The priest puts a very small piece of the consecrated host into the chalice with prayer.

13. After consecrating; the priest, after the example of the ancients who waved the

offering before the Lord, elevates the Sacrament, as presenting it to God. This was common to all the ancient liturgies.

14. The communion of the priest and people, thanksgiving, the Dismissal, follow.

From "Missa," which denotes dismissal, the term mass has been derived. It was used by some of the Fathers. By the 9th Canon of Carthage the priest is forbidden "to celebrate Mass," save in Churches.1 The Anglican Church allows it.

1 Comper on Liturgies, p. 182.

THE DRAMA OF THE ANGLICAN LITURGY

THE DRAMA

OF THE

ANGLICAN LITURGY.

The first part.

ARTICLE IV. THE DRAMA OF THE ANGLICAN LITURGY

It is an aid to a devout Celebration for worshippers to have in mind the

Order and Structure of their own Liturgy. Unlike the services of Sectarians which are but a collection of hymns,

prayers, and Scripture readings, the Church Service, and especially that

of the Mass, has a dignity like that of a Drama. The Liturgy proper is divided into four parts or acts. The first consisting of the Lord's Prayer, Collect for Purity, Recitation of

the Decalogue or Summary, and the Kyries. Beautiful as the former order was, beginning with the Gloria in Excelsis,

the Church by the recitation of the Decalogue brings us first into the

presence of the ever Blessed Trinity. In the presence of that Absolute

perfection we can but deplore our own sinfulness and make an ever

needful plea for mercy.

The

second

part.

The

third

part.

The

fourth

part.

The second part extends from the Collect of the Day to the prayer for Christ's Church Militant.

The Eternal God has become Incarnate and the prevailing idea of this part is that of Christ as the Prophet or Light of the world.

Here we have the Epistle, the word uttered by His servants, then the Gospel, the word uttered by Himself, and finally the word as confessed and proclaimed by all the Church in the Creed, swelling by each utterance the testimony of the ages to the inherited Faith. Then the word applied by the sermon.

The third division begins with a prayer for Christ's Church Militant and extends to the end of the Canon.

Here Christ is brought before us as the Priest and Victim. The prayer reminds us of the great liturgical one which Christ made in the Upper Chamber when He pleaded for the Church.

Then as our Lord went out into Gethsemane, where wrapping around Him self our sins, He, as our Representative, made an act of penitence, so there follows in the drama of the Mass the Confession and Absolution.

As an angel was seen strengthening Him so we have for our comfort the "comfortable words," and in correspondence with that angelic minis tration in His time of woe the Sursum Corda opens for us the vision of Heaven and we are one in our worship with the Angels and Saints.

In two places only is the Celebrant bidden to kneel, once when repeating the Confession in union with Christ in the Garden, and once in the prayer of Humble Access in union with His fall in going up to Calvary.

Then follows the Consecration and Solemn pleading of the Memorial Sac rifice with the Dominical prayer.

As when our Lord's Body was taken down from the cross It was wrapt in the linen, so by a peculiarity of the Anglican rite, the Sacred Elements are here covered with "a fair linen cloth."

The last portion from the Communion to the Blessing brings Christ before us as our risen and ascended King. Christ is no longer with the world but with His own.

The Anglican rite symbolises this by ordering the Reservation of the Sacra ment after the communion. It, again, is a peculiarity of the Anglican rite. It enforces Reservation for other purposes than communion which is connected with It.

Not unfittingly is the Gloria in Excelsis reserved for this place. Then like the Apostles we gather beneath the Benediction of the Uplifted Hands, "and a cloud receives Him out of our sight."

THE LITURGICAL YEAR

225

CHAPTER VI ARTICLE I. THE LITURGICAL YEAR

As the divisions of the secular year are made by the Earth's revolu tions around the sun, so the Church marks her seasons by refer ence to Christ, the Sun of Righteousness.

The year is divided into two portions, the first extending from Advent to Pentecost, the second from Pentecost to Advent.

In the first portion, broadly speaking, Christ in His saving work is presented, in the second part the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church and souls of men.

The first season in the first part is Advent, and declares the various Comings of Christ in His different ways.

Advent Sunday's Gospel sets forth the entrance of Christ into Jeru salem, which was a figure of His progress through the world. He is seated on an ass, type of human nature, surrounded by the two Dispensations, those who go before and those who follow after, Advent. -^ and 's met by the saints who come out from Jerusalem with palms of victory in their hands.

The Epistle bids the Church, looking for Christ's Second Coming, "Awake out of sleep, for our Salvation is nearer than when we believed."

The second Sunday gives the signs of Christ's Second Coming : the Great Falling Away, foretold by failing faith in Christ and His Church and the sign of the cross, or persecution, in the heavens ; while the Church, which is counted unto Him as a generation by its one baptismal birth, shall remain undestroyed.

The second Sunday tells in its Epistle of Christ's presence in the Holy Scriptures. The Word written.

The third, and fourth tell of His different Messengers. His First Coming was declared by S. John the Baptist; His Second is proclaimed by the Christian Ministry.

Christmas declares Who has come; the Word was God, and was made Flesh and dwelt among us.

In the beginning of the Christian Year we have the Feast of S. An drew, who was the Apostle first called. In Advent comes S. Thomas' witness to the Resurrection, because the supernatural exit of our Lord from the world is a witness to His supernatural entrance into it. While around the Feast of Christmas, as point ing to the death of Christ, are the Feasts of S. Stephen, S. John, and the Innocents, which tell in will and in deed of the mar tyrdom of the sinless Jesus.

Next comes the Epiphany, or the manifestation of Christ according to prophecies to the Gentile world.

The first Sunday reveals the manifestation of His Wisdom to the Jewish doctors, and the supremacy of His divine Mission to His Mother and S. Joseph.

The second Sunday declares, by His presence at the marriage and the change of the water into wine, the change of the Jewish ordi nances into the new ones of the Gospel, and the marriage of the Epiphany. ^ Incarnate Lord to the Church as typified by His Blessed Mother.

The third Sunday is a manifestation of His power over disease, curing the Jewish leper and the Gentile Centurion's servant.

While the fourth is a manifestation of His power over evil spirits and His presence in the ship of the Church throughout all time.

It is during this season that the festival of S. Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, is observed, and here logically should be placed the Feast of the Transfiguration, which signifies that Christ as the Prophet is the Light of the world. 15

§ 1 THE

LITURGICAL, YEAR.

Christmas.

226

THE LITURGICAL YEAR

'The short season of the three Sundays that follow Epiphany is declara tive of the condition in which man was found.

The old Scripture lessons began very properly here with the account of man's original state in Eden.

The Gospels for these three Sundays show how at different hours of the World's day men were called into God's vineyard ; and how the divine seed that was sown was blest or came to naught ; and how Humanity, when Christ came, was like the blind man crying out for help.

Lent is divided into two portions, in the first of which Christ as the

second Adam is seen battling with our threefold enemies. The Gospel of the first Sunday gives His personal threefold temptation

with the flesh, the world, and the devil, and His victory. The second reveals the contest of our humanity with the flesh ; the third,

with Satan and evil spirits; the fourth, with the world. The fourth presents the two races of the natural and spiritual man and

the separation from the world of Christ's people, who are fed in the

Wilderness with the Heavenly Food. The second part of Lent, or Passion-tide, declares Christ's divinity and

the offering of Himself as the Mediator of the New Covenant. With Palm Sunday we enter into the solemnities of Holy Week, and on

Easter rejoice in His triumph and resurrection.

The Sundays after Easter are declarative of Christ's presence in His Church.'His being the Good Shepherd, the gathering of Jew and Gen tile into one flock^' Christ's unseen presence, the revelation of the gift of the Comforter,' the power of prayer in His name.

The Ascension which follows is our Lord's Coronation day. It does not separate Him from the Church, but makes Him the centre of the Spir itual Organism, composed of the Church Militant, Expectant, and Triumphant.

iWith Whit-Sunday the second portion of the liturgical year begins. The Holy Ghost is given, not to take the place of an absent Lord, but to abide in the Church and make His Presence efficacious sacramen tally. It may be noticed that the Feast of S. Barnabas, who was a good man and "full of the Holy Ghost," comes after Pentecost.

The Trinity season, so called, may be variously analysed.

The first three Sundays may be taken as a section by themselves.

In Trinity Sunday we have a revelation of God worshipped in glory, and in the Gospel the teaching of Christ concerning baptism which reveals the Blessed Trinity, the basic doctrine of the Christian religion.

The next Sunday reveals, in language adapted to the Jewish comprehen sion, the middle state of needful purification and rest in which both Lazarus and Dives are pictured.

The second Sunday sets forth the Church Militant and Christ's invita tion to come to His table.

The three conditions of the Church are thus represented, viz., in glory, expectant, and militant.

	Septua- gesima.
	Lent.
§2 THE LITUR GICAL YEAR (cont'd).	Easter. -< V f

The Church in its three estates.

The

Christian and his adver saries, and his saving union with Christ.

The next section, which begins with the third Sunday, places before us our adversary the devil and Christ the Seeker of the lost. The fourth, the world and the Spirit. The world with its persecutions of the faith ful and its blindness as a guide.

The fifth, under the figure of the ship, describes the Church in its old Jewish condition and under the Gospel. In the first taking nothing, and in the other the nets are full. The law cannot save.

The sixth Sunday declares our union with Christ's death and resurrec tion by baptism, and the seventh shows forth the miraculous feeding by the loaves, typical of the Eucharist.

THE LITURGICAL YEAR

227

The next portion extends from the eighth Sunday to the thirteenth. It declares, especially, the work of the Holy Ghost. It begins with the work of the Spirit and a warning against false teachers.

The ninth warns against the abuse, and commands a spiritual use, of earthly things. The tenth concerns spiritual gifts and the danger of missing the time of their visitation. The eleventh concerns disposi tions with which God's gifts are to be received, and treats of pride and humility. The twelfth speaks of the glory of the ministration of the Spirit and of Christ's power in making "both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak."

§3 THE LITUR GICAL YEAR (concVd).

The work of the Spirit.

Christ and His offices.

The coming judgment, its warn ing and lessons.

"The fourth section commences with the thirteenth Sunday and extends to the eighteenth.

The thirteenth begins with Christ as the good Samaritan, who comes to our wounded humanity, binds up its wounds, unites it to Himself (set ting it upon His own beast), bringing it to the Inn of the Church.

The fourteenth tells of Christ as the true priest, healing the outcast lepers and restoring them to the kingdom, while the Epistle tells of the new life as the fruit of the Spirit.

The fifteenth declares in the Epistle the believer's glory in Christ Cruci fied, and the protection guaranteed by Christ to His followers in temporal things.

The sixteenth declares the power of faith grounded in love, obtaining through Him abundantly above all we ask or think, while the Gospel in the raising of the widow's son by Jesus tells of His resurrection power. The seventeenth tells of good works and the humility which should characterise Christians in the one body of the Church.

The fifth section begins with the eighteenth and goes to the end. The Epistle for the eighteenth Sunday speaks of Christians as waiting for the coming of our Lord, that we may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, while in the Gospel Jesus is represented as con victing the Pharisees.

The Epistle for the nineteenth warns us to put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt, to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, while in the Gospel Jesus is represented to us as the Son of Man having power on earth to forgive sins.

The twentieth Sunday teaches Christians to be filled with the Spirit, uniting in the church in psalms and hymns and spiritual worship, while the Gospel pictures the final marriage feast where the rejector of the Church's means of grace is represented as one without a wedding gar ment, and who is cast out into outer darkness.

The twenty-first bids Christians to put on the whole armour of God, while the Gospel shows the power of faith in the man who believed the word Jesus had spoken unto him.

The twenty-second, praying that Christians may be without offence till the day of Christ, states in the Gospel the necessity of charity and the final judgment upon that wicked servant who had not compassion on his fellows.

The twenty-third, wherein Christians are bidden to look to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our vile bodies like unto His glorious Body, declares in the Gospel Christ's condemnation of hypo crites. The twenty-fourth, by its miracles manifests Christ's loving mercy and power of resurrection over the dead, while the Gospel speaks of our being made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light.

If the sixth Sunday after Epiphany is used we have the Gospel referring to the second coming of Christ, while the Sunday next before Advent bids us gather up the fragments.

228

THE FEASTS OF OUR LORD

§1

THE FEASTS OF OUR LORD.

The

Feast of the Annun ciation.

ARTICLE II. THE PRINCIPAL FEASTS OF OUR LORD

The Incarnation came in fulfilment of ancient prophecy. "A Virgi/i shall conceive and bear a Son."

The Incarnation took place at Nazareth. The day kept in commemo/a- tion is March 25th.

The Announcement was made by the Angel Gabriel. The holy Virgin Mary, whom all generations have called "Blessed," was the volun tary cooperative human instrument of the Incarnation.

God hidden in nature is as the Word hidden in Mary.

Adoration may be offered to Christ shrined in Mary, as it was by the unborn infant, S. John Baptist.

Dispositions. Grateful love to God for uniting humanity to Himself and becoming Head of a new creation.

The solemnity of Christ's birth is observed December 25th. It is in the fulfilment of prophecy, "And thou Bethlehem, out of thee shall come a Governor." All creation was represented at His Birth. It was marked by the beginning of the world's rejection and its persecu tion of Christ.

Golden thought. What God, as immanent, is to the material universe, that the God-man dwelling in it is to the Church or spiritual one.

Liturgical observance. It is an old custom for the three Eucharists to be celebrated on Christmas Day. One, at midnight, commemorating His being begotten eternally ; at dawn, His birth, and entrance into the world; at daytime, His birth in our hearts.

Liturgical custom. To kneel at the "Incarnatus est" in the Creed in ^ honour of our Lord's Nativity.

The

Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Feast of the Cir cumcision.

Epiphany.

The Feast of the Circumcision is kept on January 1st, eight days from the Birth. Its significance is of a twofold character. First, the obedience of Christ to the Law, as coming for Man's sake under the Law. Second, the giving of the Holy Name of Jesus as Saviour or Redeemer from the Law.

Golden thought. Man incapable of delivering himself from the penalty of broken law needs a deliverer. The feast commemorates the first shedding of the Precious Blood which was to be consummated in its completeness on Calvary.

The Circumcision recognising the penalty due for sin — Calvary con summating the divine purpose, makes deliverance from it.

Dispositions. Humiliation of self before God for our inherent sinful- ness, acceptance of our condemnation and sin's penalty, trust in the all-sufficient work of Jesus as our Saviour.

Liturgical observance. It is prescribed by the English Canon, "When in time of Divine Service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and holy reverence shall be done by all persons present as it has been accustomed."

The prophecy, "The Gentiles shall come to thy Light." The feast is kept on the twelfth day after Christmas ; it signifies the manifestation of Christ.

By liturgical custom four manifestations are grouped together. First, the manifestation of His Person to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, who worshipped Him. Second, His wisdom to the Doctors of the Jewish Law, who were astonished at it. Third, His Messiah- ship at His Baptism, by the Heavens that were opened. Fourth, His glory to the disciples at the first miracle.

Golden thought. The significance of Christ's actions, primarily hidden, was subsequently revealed by the Spirit

Liturgical observance. Giving of alms and other offerings and adora- ^ tion of Jesus Christ as God.

THE FEASTS OF OUR LORD

229

The prophecy, "The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His Temple."

The Messiah was to come to the Temple. As the Temple has been destroyed, either the prophecy was not a true one or Christ fulfilling it is the Messiah.

The second Temple was made more glorious than the first by the Presence of Christ. The world could not discern Him as hidden in the Eucharist ; it cannot now.

He was spiritually discerned by the Saints, Simeon and Anna, who recog nised Christ as the faithful recognise Him in the Sacrament.

Liturgical observances. The Feast of the Presentation is often called Candlemas, and the coming of Christ as the Light of the world is sym bolised by the procession of the Faithful bearing lighted candles which have been blessed.

Golden thought. Christ in the Temple, Light of the world. By bap tism we are made children of light. Let us walk worthy of our vocation.

§ 2 THE FEASTS OF OUR LOUD (confrf).

Presen tation to the Temple.

The

Transfig uration.

First Sunday in Lent.

Palm Sunday.

Our Lord is our Prophet, Priest, and King, and His public life is divided into three portions, each of which ends with a significant action on a hill.

The great Forty Days ends with His Ascension on Mount Olivet. His suf fering life ends on Mount Calvary, His prophetical life on Mount Tabor.

The Feast of the Transfiguration is a visible manifestation of Christ as the great Prophet and the Light of the world.

It is unfortunate that it is not kept in the Epiphany season, and with greater solemnity and general observance.

Our Lord came as the fulfilment of many prophecies.

At the Transfiguration Moses and Elias, the law and the prophets, bear witness to Him.

The three Apostles near Him are representative of the two dispensations ; the disciples and the multitude below are representatives of the world, waiting in their impotency for the coming of Christ.

Liturgical observance. The renewal of our Baptismal and Confirmation vows would be most appropriate.

Golden thought; Jesus Christ our Light, our Teacher, our Prophet, in whose word we trust, on whom alone for truth we rely.

Christ's redemptive work may be divided into two portions. His con flict with our enemies, and the reconciliation of man with God. His temptations were real ones.

The first Sunday in Lent represents Christ in His conflict with the flesh, the world, and Satan. Born to fight, as man for man against his foes, He may not call upon His divine nature to assist Him in the conflict.

He is also bound to win the victory in the way God had appointed for Him, and that way was the way of the cross.

By His victories merit was won, and graces developed. In union with those graces and reliance on that merit, Christians win their victories.

As it was prophesied that in Adam we all spiritually died, even so in Christ by union with His nature we were to be made alive.

Golden thought ; I can do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth me.

Devotional practices. Fasting, withdrawal from the world, prayer.

Triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, six days before His

Passion; fulfilment of the prophecy, "Behold thy King cometh unto

thee." Symbolical meaning as regards His Passion, the leading forth and the

separation of the Lamb for the Sacrifice. The final cleansing of the Temple. Liturgical observances. The benediction and distribution of branches of

palm, the procession an emblem of the Christian's journey toward the

heavenly Jerusalem. Golden thought. "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."

THE FEASTS OF OUR LORD

In Holy Week, together with Easter, we have an epitome of our Lord's Life. It is divided into three parts. Ip the first He is the Prophet teaching in the Temple, overthrowing the objections of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, and to His disciples declaring the destruction of Jerusalem and His Second Coming.

§ 3 THE FEASTS OF OUR LORD (concluded).

Holy Week.

Liturgical observances.

Golden thoughts.

, where

the formal offering of Himself as priest and victim takes place, and is followed by Gethsemane and Calvary. In the one He makes the act of penitence on behalf of mankind, with whom He has identified Himself as its representative, and on the other submits Himself to the penalty of death, and by submission to it makes an act of reparation to God, reconciles God and man, and overcomes death.

The second part reveals His descent into Hades and His deliver ance of the waiting dead, who became the spirits of just men made perfect.

The third part ushers in His glorious triumph at Easter, and ends with the Coronation day at the Ascension.

The Anglican Church has lost many of the observances of Holy Week, to the decay of its faith and devotion. It is much to be desired that, under the "jus liturgicum" of the Bishops, oppor tunities of devotion <£hould be increased. The adoption of the Three Hours Good Friday service is a movement for an exten sion beyond the letter of the Prayer Book.

There might well be the benediction and distribution of palms and a procession on Palm Sunday. The suppression of the Gloria, the silence of the organ, bells, the office of tenebrse, and the chanting of the lamentations of Jeremiah, the white Mass on Maundy Thursday, and the blessing of the holy oils by the Bishop. The presentation of the cross to the faithful on Good Friday, during Lent the Stations of the Cross.

It would not be unworthy of the Anglican Church if it studied and learnt something in the way of devotion from the ancient Churches of the East. We do not live in an age when our danger is that of superstition, but are in face of the condition

.. of how to recover or preserve a declining faith.

Love ever demands a return in kind. He died for me and gave Himself for me. What can I do but give myself to Him. >Jt must be love for love and life for life.

FESTIVALS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

§ 1

FESTIVALS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN.

ARTICLE III. PRINCIPAL FEASTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

'In the Calendar of the English Church the Blessed Virgin is called "Our Lady."

Our Lord speaking from the cross gave her to S. John as his mother, and S. John to her to take as a son.

As our Lord was uttering the seven great words for the benefit of all His

followers, they must have an application to us. The Christian fellowship and love which was to exist between all His

disciples was to have as an example that which He instituted between

S. John and His Blessed Mother.

'Mary our Lady.

The festivals in her honour.

As in a special way Jesus must have loved her, following His example

shall we not love her too ? The fear of so exalting her as to obscure the devotion due our Lord has

led Anglicans into a neglect of Christ's command. True and loyal devotion to Mary, wonderful in her unique office, full of

grace, heroic in her virtues, has ever been a protection to the honour _ due our Lord and the doctrine of the Incarnation.

'In the English Calendar the 26th of July is noted as the Feast of S. Anne, Mother to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was honoured in the primitive Church as the parent of the holy Virgin.

On the 8th of December is commemorated the "Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary." This can have no particular reference to the Roman dogma of the "Immaculate Conception," which was promul gated lately, but it bears a witness to Mary's unique gift of grace.

On the 8th of September the Church commemorates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. " Shall nations keep the birthdays of their great, and the Church not keep the birthday of the greatest and the most honoured of her saints ? " Tradition gives Joachim as the name of her father.

On the 25th of March the Church, with a special Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, observes the day as "the Annunciation of our Lady." How much we owe her, remembering she was not a mere physical, but a voluntary and cooperative, instrument in the work of the Incarnation.

Holy in her original character, her holiness was made more perfect by that most intimate union with God in her womb. "Not Eve in Para dise could be so holy as the Virgin Mary when she became a paradise herself."

On the 2d of July there is noted the feast of the "Visitation of the Virgin Mary." It is associated with her inspired canticle of the Mag nificat, which has become a part of the Church's office as the great and ever-to-be-honoured hymn of the Incarnation.

On the 2d of February the Church keeps the "Feast of S. Mary the Virgin." It was made memorable by the giving to the Church the Nunc Dimittis, which proclaimed the glorious Epiphany of Christ to all nations. The submission of the Holy Virgin to the ceremony was of like order in its humility to Christ's "suffer it to be so now."

The honour the Anglican Church in its wisdom does her in its Liturgy fails in practice by neglect, as the Latins err by excess. The Eastern Church Liturgy prays for the increase of her glory, while it asks of God a portion in her prayers.

"Making mention of our all holy, undefiled, exceedingly blessed Lady, Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all saints, let us commend ourselves and one another to Christ our God."

THE BLESSED VIRGIN

THE

BLESSED

VIRGIN.

ARTICLE IV. THE BLESSED VIRGIN. THE EPOCHS IN HER LIFE

'The Blessed Virgin, according to the divine predestination, received for her great office special gifts of grace from God.

As not a mere physical instrument, but as a voluntary and so a moral one, she cooperates with the grace given.

Her life is in Holy Scripture hidden from us, but as God gave grace to S. John Baptist before his birth, we may believe that He did so to the Blessed Virgin.

Her early life, surrounded with legend, is hidden from us, but from the Angel's salutation she must have advanced early in sanctity to be saluted as she was.

Her

early life.

Her union with Christ.

Her response to the Angel, "How can this be seeing that I know not a man ? " has been thought by some of the Fathers to reveal her dedication to a state of virginity. Otherwise her reply was inconsistent with the idea of one approaching consummated wedlock.

In her great humility she had resigned that office which was dear to Hebrew women, and the possible hope of being the mother of the Messiah.

The vision of God, being the all in all to the soul, had thus early taken pos session of her young heart. Her inspired outburst in the Magnificat reveals her knowledge of Holy Scripture in her paraphrase of Hannah's song.

"Her prompt obedience to the Angel's message reveals a wonderful training in self-abnegation and response to the divine will.

For thirty years she dwells with the Incarnate Son of God; every word is a revelation, every kiss a sacrament. She is filled with the wisdom of the Law as it reveals Christ.

She is purified by suffering, by the hard life, the journeyings, the rejections ; the sorrows of the Hebrew mothers ring in her ears ; the desolation of the life in heathen Egypt, the prophecy of the sword that shall pierce her heart, the terrible strain at the loss of the Child, all tell upon her.

She keeps all these things and His words and acts in her heart. She lives on in poverty until the day she gives Him up to His tremendous and cross- ending mission.

She is with Him in heart during His public life while keeping herself most unobtrusively in the background. Yet as a true worker for souls, she is seen bringing His unbelieving cousins to Christ.

She cooperates with Him in His prophetical life. She is also found stand ing, in perfect calmness and faith, at His cross uniting her will to His.

Then at the Resurrection she rests in hidden places and waits the triumph of His Ascension and Pentecost, when assembled with the Apostles she abides the personal descent of the Holy Ghost.

From S. John we learn of her final beatification and her crowning with glory.

It is our privilege to look upon Mary as upon our spiritual Mother, to enter into the spirit of the feasts dedicated to her, to rejoice in the graces bestowed upon her, to thank God for the glory to which He raised her, to study to imitate her humility, fortitude, and fidelity to grace, to ask

. God for a portion in her prayers.

HOLY DAYS IN THE ANGLICAN CALENDAR 233

ARTICLE V. PRINCIPAL FEASTS OF THE SAINTS AND ANGELS AND HOLY DAYS IN THE

ANGLICAN CALENDAR

On the 29th of September is kept the feast of "S. Michael and All Angels." S. Gabriel is the recognised Angel of the Incarna- "Holy Angels. -{ tion. S. Raphael is the representative of the guardian Angels given to each in baptism. Of children, Christ said "their Angels do always behold the face of My Father."

Feast on the 1st of November. The saints of the old and new dispensations thus commemorated are those now reigning with Christ in glory. They are those who have heroically corre- All Saints. -4 sponded with grace and become purified so as to be able to attain the Beatific vision. The Church recognises them by the miraculous or other signs God gives, but there are very many not so certified.

S. John /The Church observes his nativity on the 24th of June and his

Baptist. \ beheading, August 29.

'The feasts of the Apostles and S. John Baptist are commemorated by special Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, and so are two of the The Apostles. -^ Blessed Virgin Mary, and that of the Holy Angels and All Saints. S. John's martyrdom before the Latin gate is kept on May 6, his death on December 27.

S. Stephen, first Christian Martyr; the Holy Innocents, put to death by Herod; S. Lucian, priest, January 9; S. Fabian, Bishop of Rome ; S. Vincent, deacon ; Blasius, an Armenian

The Holy Bishop ; S. Valentine, Bishop ; David, Archbishop of Menevia ;

Martyrs. | Boniface, Bishop of Mentz; S. Alban, first British Martyr;

S. Laurence, Archdeacon; S. Lambert, Bishop; S. Cyprian, Archbishop; S. Deny; S. Crispin; S. Clement; S. George; Edmund, king.

TS. Prisca, S. Agnes, S. Agatha, S. Pepetua, S. Margaret of Antioch ; Holy Virgins S. Faith, S. Cecilia, S. Catherine, S. Lucy, other saintly women,

and Martyrs. | S. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin, S. Mary Magdalene,

[ Ethelred.

{S. Hilary, Bishop; David, Archbishop of Menevia; S. Chad of Litchfeld; S. Gregory of Rome; S. Martin; S. Giles, Abbot; Eunurchus, Bishop of Orleans.

{S. Benedict, founded the Benedictines; S. Ambrose. Bishop of Milan; S. Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury; S. Dunstan; Venerable Bede; S. Jerome; Remigius, Bishop of Rheims; Machutus, Bishop ; Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln ; Nicolas, Bishop of Myra ; Silvester, Bishop of Rome.

{Holy Cross Day, September 14; Invention of the Cross, May 3; Lammas day, August 1 ; Feast of King Edward the Confessor, October 13. In the American Book there is a Thanksgiving day for fruits of the earth. The Church also puts forth her table of Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence.

It would not be unfitting the dignity of the Anglican Church if her members began to commemorate, as was the custom of early times, those whose great sanctity in past reformation .Additional. •< times has endeared their memories to the faithful. She has had her martyrs in King Charles ; in Laud, Hannington, Patterson ; Bishops; her confessors in Keble, Pusey, Forbes; her saints, like Carter; her noble founders of religious orders.

FEASTS

AND

HOLY DAYS

IN THE

ANGLICAN CALENDAR.

THE LAW

§ 1

THE LAW.

CHAPTER VII ARTICLE I. LEGAL ORNAMENTS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. ITS LAW

The Ecclesia Anglicana existed in Britain from early times, Apostolic in government, Catholic in doctrine.

The religious movement in the sixteenth century did not deprive her of her Catholic character. She held the Faith, guarded by the Creeds and Councils and expressed in the universal consent of Catholic Christendom. She relieved herself of the oppressive burden of the mediaeval Papacy, but remained, so far as organisation was concerned, the same Church after as before the Reform. This is the declaration she constantly made in her official documents, and which has been witnessed to by her great theologians, statesmen, and historians.

The

fundamental construction of it.

The Law as finally established.

The

chancels to remain as in times past.

Bishops like Jewell and Laud, statesmen like Gladstone, jurists like Selborne, historians like Freeman, are in this matter in accord. Noth ing, says the latter, was further from the mind of Henry VIII. or Eliza beth than that of establishing a new church.

•

It follows from this that what was not repealed or done away with by express legislation remained part of the law or custom of the Church. This should be the fundamental principle of construction applied to her Prayer Book and Formularies.

In respect of Ceremonial, the Church declared it was far from her purpose "to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, in all things which they held in practice, and it doth with reverence retain the ceremonies which doth neither endanger the Church nor offend the minds of sober men."

After a prolonged struggle, lasting from 1530 to 1661, with Romanism and Puritanism, and the conflicting elements within her, the Church at the latter date, at the time of the Restoration, after grave and pro longed consultation and in opposition to the expressed wishes of the Sectarians, pronounced her final decision in the matter of ceremonial, and embodied it in a Rubric which became law.

"And the Chancels shall remain as they had done in times past. And it is here to be noted that such ornaments of the Church and the ministers thereof at all times of their ministration shall be retained and be in use. as were in this Church of England by authority of Parliament in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI."

'The Chancels were to remain, not as they had been in the time of the Puritan Commonwealth, but as they were previously, provided with an altar at the East end, a Credence table, Sedilia for the priests, and altar rails which had been introduced by Laud.

In reestablishing the use of the Prayer Book, the Restorers, who were high Churchmen, first of all deemed it necessary that the Chancel should be arranged after the ancient manner.

The Rubric was viciously violated when in the Georgian period a pulpit was placed sometimes in the centre of the Chancel with a clerk's desk beneath, and a table in front of the latter surrounded by a rail.

It is a happy sign for future peace that in the religious revival of the nineteenth century all schools have been returning, in the arrange ments of their Chancels, to the Rubric of the prescribed pattern.

THE LAW

a35

§ 2 THE LAW (concluded).

The legal ornaments.

The Reformation ended with the Restoration, and in 1661 the Prayer Book received the final revision after the Savoy Conference.

It gave order and embodied it in a Rubric respecting the ornaments of the Church and the Ministers thereof.

The technical, legal meaning of the term "ornaments" is not the popular one of decoration, but embraces all articles used in the performance of the Church's Services.

An order existed previous to the Revision requiring the Minister to use such ornaments "at the time of Communion and at all other times of his ministration as were in use by the authority of Parlia ment in the second year of King Edward VI."

The Presbyterians present, led by Baxter, objected to the retention of this order, as it would bring back cope and alb and other vest ments. The Church, however, not only retained the matter of the old Rubric, but recast it by making an addition.

It is to be observed that it thus has the character of a new law, which repeals all that has gone before it, and so it is to be construed independently by itself. It is obvious from its construction that the intention, as was especially declared to the objectors, was to bring back the use of the Ancient Ornaments as established by authority at a specified date.

The revisers had to do with very subtle and clever men, who would, if possible, evade the Rubric. Now had the former one stood, which only required, as seen above, that certain vestments were to be used, it could have been evaded by saying that there was no obligation for providing them. They could not be used, if not in existence.

It was necessary therefore to imply that in some way the orna ments should be provided for, so the words were added that tfee ornaments were to be "retained." The new Rubric read, "Such ornaments shall be retained."

The term "retained " implied two things. It imposed a duty which enforced the provision of the ornaments. But the Revisers pro vided against another evasion.

Lest it should be said those things could not be retained which were not then in existence, the Rubric did not say "the ornaments" were to be retained, but "such ornaments," viz., similar to those as were formerly in existence.

Moreover, they were to be such ornaments as were "in " the Church at the time specified; not such as had merely been legalised, which would not put them "in " the Church, but would only give the Church a right to them, but such as were in the Church, i.e., in use in the Church, which is the only way they could be "in " it.

Again, by the word "retained" the Church asserted her continuity. What she had once possessed was always hers, however she might for a time have been deprived of them.

236

	The second
	year does not mean
	King Ed- - ward's first
	Prayer Book.
§ 3	•
THE LEGAL ORNAMENTS.	Why the second
	year taken •<
	as
	standard.
	What the
,	Rubric
	covers.

The Rubric authorised the use of such Ornaments as were by author ity of Parliament in the Church in the second year of King Edward VI.

The second year of King Edward began January 28, 1548, ending at midnight January 27, 1549.

This Rubric does not refer, as has sometimes been supposed, to the first Prayer Book of Edward VI., for though the bill authorising this Book passed Parliament a few days before the third year of King Edward began, there is no proof that the bill received the Royal assent, by commission or otherwise, and became an act or law until the third year of King Edward.

While ordinarily acts of Parliament go into operation from the first day of the session in which they are passed, it is otherwise when some other date is explicitly stated, as was the case in the first Prayer Book of Edward VI., which was not to go into operation till the third year.

Moreover, as it was explicitly stated that it was to go into effect in the third year, until it had thus gone into use (although it had been legalised) it could not be said to be "in " the Church. The Rubric does not say "such ornaments were to be retained and, etc.," which were legalised in the second year, but which were not only legalised but "in " the Church at that time. They were not "in " the Church till the Church was by use in possession of them.

The Rubric therefore does not apply to the first Prayer Book of King Edward VI.

The better opinion is that the Rubric refers to those things which by act of Parliament, viz., "twenty-fifth Henry VIII.," gave sanc tion to all the old Canons dealing with Ceremonial and Orna ments. This was the law and use in the second year of King Edward.

One reason why the Church went back to the second year of King Edward for its standard of ceremonial was that the first Prayer Book of King Edward never came into general use, and neither it nor the second Book were in use except for a very short time.

It has also been attributed to the influence of Queen Elizabeth, who, unable to get, as she wished, the first Book of King Edward taken as a standard, nevertheless was determined to continue the reli gion "as left by her father," and so had the Rubric inserted which continued the ceremonial as it was in his time.

According to archaeologists, the Ornaments of the Church in the second year covered high and minor altars, a reredos covered with imagery and painting, an altar shelf, frontals, side curtains or riddles, altar cloths, altar candlesticks which differed in number, chalice, paten, corporal, pall and burse, a censer, processional cross, and processional torches. There was usually the rood. Alcuin Club Tracts, No. I.

The Ornaments for the Minister for the Communion consisted of the amice, alb, girdle, stole, the maniple, and chasuble, which all together were called the vestment. Dalmatic and Tunic were used by the Gospeller and Epistler, and silk copes were worn by the clergy in procession and. at censing the altars.

It would be a great gain for the cause of Christ if ceremonial ceased to be a matter of party contention. The long disuse might be urged as an excuse for its non-adoption by low Churchmen, while the legality might be allowed to priests and congregations desiring the same.

In America the Church, by the omission of the Ornaments Rubric has been left to develop its ceremonial, under episcopal super vision, in accordance with its Catholic heritage.

THE EASTWARD POSITION

287

CHAPTER VIII. THE HOLY EUCHARIST

ARTICLE I. THE EASTWARD POSITION

§ 1 THE

EASTWARD POSITION AS DECLARED

IN THE

PRAYER BOOK.

'The Rubric in the Anglican liturgy reads thus: "When the priest, standing before the Table, hath so ordered the Bread and Wine, that he may with more readiness and decency break the Bread before the People, and take the Cup into his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration."

At whatever side of the Table the clergyman stands he is the representative of Christ. In the pulpit he represents Him as the prophet, at the Table or Altar as the priest.

The position should not, therefore, be regarded as a party question, but as belonging to things held in common.

A loyal churchman will simply seek to know what the Rubric means and loyally conform to its direction.

In construing the Rubric it must be admitted that the object and purpose of the Rubric is to determine the place where, at this point of the service, the priest should stand.

The Rubric must be so construed, therefore, as not to leave the priest to a choice, but as determining the one position which he should take.

During the Commonwealth the Table had been moved about, and there was much diversity of practice. At the Restoration this Rubric was made to settle the priest's position and prevent Puritan evasion.

First, it is stated that the priest shall be found "standing before the Table." The obvious reason why no point of the compass was mentioned was because as the Table might be moved at will by the Puritan faction, no one particular place could be designated by any one point of the compass.

What would be north or south, right or left, would be changed by every changed position of the Table. The makers of the Rubric were, therefore, obliged to mark the point they had in mind by some other terminology.

WThat, then, does the term "before" in reference to the Table signify? It may have, taken by itself, one of two meanings. It may mean "in the presence of."

But it cannot have that meaning here, because in that case, at whatever side of the Table the priest stood, he would be before it. The Rubric, if so con strued, would then fail of its purpose of designating the one place where the priest should stand. "Before" cannot then mean "in the presence of," but must mean some one particular place.

To learn what this is, we must have regard to the legal rule of construction, that like words in any law must be construed as having the same meaning.

Now the word "before" is used designedly in the Rubric twice. The priest is not only to stand "before the Table," but to break the bread "before the people."

As the object of the Rubric is to determine the place the priest is to take, "before the people" cannot mean "in the presence of the people," but must be construed as marking some one locality or position.

It can have, therefore, but one signification. It cannot mean behind the people, nor can it mean on one side of the people. It can only mean in front of the people.

238

THE EASTWARD POSITION

THE

EASTWARD POSITIQN AS DECLARED

IN THE

PRAYER

BOOK

(concluded).

THE ONLY AUTHORISED AND LEGAL ONE

Having discovered the meaning of the word "before " in the Rubric, we must legally apply it to all the clauses in which it occurs.

Since the word "before " must have the same meaning in each clause of the Rubric, and the priest is directed by the Rubric not to stand behind the people or on either side of them, but they being behind him, he is placed in front of them ; so like wise he is bidden by the same words "before the Table" not to stand behind the Table, or at one end or side of it, but in front of it.

The term "before the people" means, therefore, somewhere in front of them, and the term "before the Table" somewhere in front of it. The rubrical direction, so far as examined, places the priest thus somewhere between the Table and the people. That he should be next to the Table is seen by reference to the preced ing Rubric, which bade the priest to kneel down at the Table, and then he was subsequently bidden to stand up.

But with the acumen developed by contact with ingenious Puritan evasions the revisers added two further directions to designate the priest's position.

Having placed the priest between the Table and the people, he must then so stand, not next to the people, but near the Table, that "he may order" or arrange the Bread and Wine.

Moreover, lest he turn, or half way turn, towards the people, he must so stand, not move, not turning round, but turned to the Table so as to break the Bread and "take the Cup into his hands," i.e., both hands. This places him next to the Altar with his back to the people.

When Bishop Wren was tried for standing eastwards and in the middle of the altar, he pleaded that he was obeying the Apostolic injunction "to do everything in decency and order "; and when the Bishops came to formulate the new Rubric, they incorporated into it his plea, saying that the position they assigned was the one in which the priest could with "more readiness and decency break the Bread before the people."

There is nothing in Scripture, antiquity, church custom, or common sense that im plies that any spiritual benefit accrues to the people from seeing the fraction of the Bread or the priest's action, or any reason to show that the makers of the Rubric had this idea in mind.

It may satisfy the minds of some to observe that the priest, taking the eastward position, identifies himself thus with the people by taking the same attitude towards the Table they do ; while if he goes to the north end he separates him self from them.

He no more turns his back on the people, than the lay priests in the front pews turn their backs on those behind them.

As the wearing of the surplice has ceased to be a matter of contention, so it is hoped in the cause of Christian unity this contention may cease, and the Rubric accord ing to its legal construction be obeyed by all.

RESERVATION OF THE SACRAMENT

	'Not
	contrary to the
	Anglican faith or
	articles.
§ 1
RESERVATION
OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT LAWFUL.	Nor otherwise provided for.
	Nor
	forbidden
	by the Rubric's
	intention.

CHAPTER IX. THE RESERVATION OF THE SACRAMENT

( Not Contrary to the Articles. ARTICLE I. •< Nor otherwise provided for. \^Nor forbidden by Rubric.

The reservation of the Blessed Sacrament for the sick is not con trary to the doctrine of the Anglican Church.

In those primitive times to which this church appeals, the custom existed as testified by SS. Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, and many others.

From the third century the Sacrament was reserved for ready com munion of the sick and dying.

As a church governing itself by ancient teaching, reservation there fore cannot be held contrary to its own standard of faith.

The Twenty-eighth Article, that says the Sacrament was "not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up," etc., does not condemn the Church's own use of reserving the Sacrament after the actual communion of the people, and singing the Gloria in Excelsis before It. The Church does not contradict herself.

Reservation was allowed by the English Reformers in King Ed ward's first Prayer Book, and the Ornaments Rubric of 1661, by covering the use of the pyx, allows of it. It is not against Reformation principles.

In the Church of Scotland, which retains the Thirty-nine Articles, the reservation for the sick is expressly provided for by rubric, showing that the two are not incompatible.

The House of American Bishops declared in their pastoral of 1895 "that the Ordinary may in cases of extreme necessity authorise the reserved Sacrament to be carried to the sick."

Reservation cannot therefore be held to contradict the Church's doctrine or be condemned by the Articles.

'The instruction given to the sick, not able to receive, to make a spiritual communion, does not do away now more than formerly with the bringing of the Sacrament, or supply its place. For the priest, according to the Sarum and York Missals, was to say, "Brother, in this case true faith and good will suffice thee. Only believe and thou hast eaten."

Yet the Sacrament was in those days reserved and carried to the .. sick.

The intention of the Rubric requiring consummation at the end of the service must be gathered from the Rubric itself, and, as its analysis shows, it was to protect the Sacrament from profanation.

It begins by making a distinction between the consecrated and un- consecrated species, which would be irrelevant if the intention was simply to forbid reservation.

It is stated that the curate may have the unconsecrated to his own use, but the consecrated must be consumed.

The Revisers did not merely say "it must be consumed," for they knew that the crafty Puritans would then take it home and con sume it irreverently.

To guard against this likely profanation, the Rubric begins by saying it "shall not be carried out of church."

2/io

RESERVATION OF THE SACRAMENT

§2

RESERVATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT LAWFUL (concluded).

« %

ri»«lA*C

A TT C Reservation not contrary to the Intention

ARTICLE II. < r , ., » , •

\^ or Language oj me Rubric.

It would still be open to the Puritan evader to say he would wait till the congregation had departed. Therefore the Rubric re quires him to consume "immediately after the blessing." He could still plead that the amount remaining, which he had pur- Not posely caused to be considerable, did not with propriety allow

forbidden of it.

by the Forestalling this subterfuge, the Rubric bids him associate with

intention | himself "such other communicants as he shall then call." of the It would still be easy to express one's unbelief by standing and

Rubric. -talking about the Holy Table. Therefore a further direction

is given that the consecrated elements should be "reverently" consumed.

It is thus a legal demonstration that the intention was not to for bid reservation, but guard against irreverence.

'Nor does a strict legal interpretation forbid reservation, for the Rubric must be interpreted in conformity with its intention and controlled by it.

Being in the nature of a restraint upon the exercise of the priest's office, it must be construed strictly and so as not, if possible, to interfere with it.

Reservation was enjoined by the "Constitution" of Archbishop Peckham, 1279, and made the law of England by 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 19, which legalised existing constitutions and so Reservation.

The Rubric cannot alter this law unless found to be in itself in consistent with it; or incapable of receiving some other than a prohibitive construction, and this cannot be done.

It is proved to be not inconsistent with Reservation by the fact that in pre-reformation times there were like rubrical directions to consume what remained, along with the custom that called for reservation for the sick.

Again, as the Rubric must be construed strictly, and according to its intention, a prohibitive construction is not necessarily to be applied to it, if open to any other, as it is. Nor by For according to well-known legal principles of construction the

its words J Rubric is patent of two interpretations. The words may be legally | taken in either a mandatory and imperative, or a declarative

.construed. and directive sense.

The words may mean that the elements "in all cases must be con sumed," or, when consumed, "this is the way or manner of it."

This distinction is one recognised as valid and applied by clergy to other Rubrics. "Then," it is ordered, "shall follow the sermon."

This does not mean there shall always be a sermon, but when there is one this is the place for it. So " here shall follow a hymn," J which was often omitted.

Again, the elements are to be consumed by the priest and such other communicants "as he shall then call." This does not oblige him to call any, if in his judgment not necessary.

The Rubric says the elements "shall not be carried out of the church," but it is not a principle of statutory construction that negative words make a statute mandatory or imperative.

"This principle" (Endlich on Interpretation, p. 610) "cannot be sustained." The Rubric is not a universal negative.

The Rubric relates to a particular sen-ice and forbids the carrying out of the church of the Sacrament as part of that service. It relates to the manner of the disposition of the elements re- w quired to be consumed.

1 The old American Rubric after the Canon

THE AMERICAN RUBRIC

ARTICLE III. RESERVATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT IN AMERICA

§3 THE

AMERICAN RUBRIC FAVOURS RESERVATION.

'It having been demonstrated that J;wo constructions of the Rubric are possible, it does not necessarily forbid Reservation, but allows of it.

We have seen that a legal and strict construction of the Rubric in the English Book allows of Reservation.

In the American Prayer Book the argument is stronger, for the Rubric has been changed, and the change brings its wording in accord with a permissive res ervation.

The English Rubric reads, "If any remain of that which was consecrated, it shall not be carried out of the church."

The American Rubric changes this. It does not declare that any of the conse crated elements remaining shall not be carried out, but implies that some so remaining need not come under this rule.

For the American Rubric says, not that the consecrated elements remaining at the end of the service are to be consumed, as the English Book does, but only those that "remain after the Communion."

This is an important distinction. The English Rubric refers to the service as a whole, and the elements that remain are to be consumed when the service is finished. The American, however, takes cognisance of the Prayer Book dis tinction between the " service as a whole " and the "Communion of the people."

We find this distinction plainly noted in the Rubric in the ordering of priests. It says, "The Communion being done," then certain collects shall be read; the Communion being thus recognised as "done" before the whole service is ended. The two are distinct.

Now the American Rubric orders not the consumption of the consecrated ele ments that remain at the end of the service, as the English Book does, but those that remain after the Communion of the people. This is very different.

This change, and the limitation of the consumption of the elements to those that remain from the amount needed for the Communion, implies that there may be other consecrated elements which need not be so consumed.

The priest may therefore lay aside, before proceeding to give the Communion, sufficient of the consecrated elements for the sick, which, not being connected with the "Communion," he is not obliged to consume.

Is it asked how and why this change in the American Rubric took place ? The answer is that the American canon was largely influenced by the Scotch Liturgy.

The Scotch book and custom provided for the reservation for the sick.

The Scotch Rubric reads thus, "According to the universal custom of the Church of Scotland, the Priest may reserve as much of the Consecrated Gifts as may be required for the Communion of the sick and others who could not be present at the Consecration in the Church."

In connection with this, in the prayer of Consecration in the Scotch Liturgy reference is made to some receiving other than those present. For not only for themselves who were present are prayers made, but for "Whosoever shall be partakers of this Holy Communion may worthily receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ."

16

THE AMERICAN RUBRIC

Now the American Liturgy adopted this petition and made it part of its Canon. The prayer read thus, "Humbly beseeching Thee that we and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion may be made one body with Him, that He may dwell in them and they in Him."

t

The ending "that He may dwell in them," which was altered at the last revision for alleged grammatical reasons, was a confirmatory proof that the Canon implied there would be other partakers of this Sacrament than those present for whose reception reservation would be necessary.

The expression retained that "we and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion," as the prayer in the American Book reads, implies that there are others than those present who may do so.

Thus in the adoption of this petition from the Scotch Liturgy, which implies the reception by others not present, we find the reason why the English form of the Rubric concerning the consuming of the elements was altered in America, and in a way to allow of reservation.

§4 THE

AMERICAN RUBRIC ALLOWS OF IT.

It did this by changing the direction to consume what remained of that which was consecrated to what remained after the Communion.

The not unusual reservation of the Sacrament in the early part of the nineteenth century, by clergymen of different schools, is an evidence of the correctness of the interpretation by way of contemporaneous exposition ; and the carrying of the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, though not common, was recognised as lawful in the cases of epidemics and on special occasions.

Bishops and Canonists in America, in the last century, when no party question was involved, have admitted the lawfulness or allowableness of reservation for the sick.

In the interests of priests who may be called on any time of day or night, and of the sick who desire to receive sacramentally and who cannot bear the strain of a prolonged service, the practice of a reverent reservation is to be encouraged.

It would be contrary to the spirit of the Prayer Book so to prescribe the manner of reservation as to prevent the devotional use of It by the faithful.

For after the communions of priest and people have been made, and so, as it is argued, the intention of the Institution has been fulfilled, the Church, not confining herself to that alone, reserves the Blessed Sacrament and devo- tionally sings her Gloria in Excelsis, which She has transposed to this place before It.

Our Church does not, like the sects, pass the Sacrament to persons sitting in their pews, but compels them to go up to the Altar and kneel, and it would tend to drive the Holy Spirit away from our communion if any hindrances were placed in the way of devotion to our Lord's sacramental Presence.

TO

FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST,

AND TO

OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST,

WHO HAS REDEEMED US BY HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD AND SAVES US

IN HIS HOLY CHURCH,

THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF THE TRUTH,

GIVING DEVOUT THANKS FOR PLACING US WITHIN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION^ IN WHICH WE HAVE LIVED AND MEAN TO DIE,

LET US HOLD FAST

THE PROFESSION OF OUR FAITH WITHOUT WAVERING, LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE AND GLORIOUS APPEARING

OF THE

GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST,

WHEN THE KINGDOM SHALL BE GIVEN TO GOD THE FATHER, AND GOD SHALL BE ALL IN ALL, AND TIME SHALL CEASE

AND WE BE GATHERED INTO

THE RESTFUL ETERNITY OF THE " NOW " OF GOD.

EVEN SO COME, LORD JESUS.

AMEN.

SSwM*!

JP

• « »• • *

. %*