PART St. Jerome expounds it of this very particular sin of heresy and error in religion. 2 Abp. LAUD against Fisher, sect. xxiv. When a general council cannot be had, the Church must pray that it may, and expect till it may; or else reform itself per partes, by national or provincial synods (as hath been said before.) And in the mean time it little beseems A. C., or any Christian, to check at the wisdom of Christ, if He have not taken the way they think fitting to settle Church differences; or if, for the Church's sin or trial, the way of composing them 1 Cor. xi. 19. be left more uncertain than they would have it, that they which are approved may be known. See WATERland, v. 321. Matt. xxviii. 19. CHAPTER VIII. ON PRIVILEGES IN THE CHURCH-DUE ADMINISTRA Q. 1. WHAT other privileges are received from God through the medium of the Church? A. The Sacraments of Baptism and of the Lord's Mark xvi. 16. Supper, which are the visible symbola and characLuke xxii. 19. teres Ecclesiæ, the signs, badges, and bonds of the 1 Cor. xi. 24. Christian Church.1 Acts ii. 42. Tit. iii. 5. 1 S. AUG. contra Faustum, xix. 11. In nullum nomen religionis sive veræ sive falsæ coagulari homines possunt nisi aliquo signaculorum vel sacramentorum visibilium consortio colligantur. S. AUG. contra Parmen. ii. c. 13, De Cathechiz. Rudibus. Sacramenta signacula rerum divinarum visibilia in quibus res ipsæ invisibiles honorantur. S. BASIL, Homil. xiii. Q. 2. Why is the Administration and Reception of the Sacraments necessary ? A. Because it has pleased God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy to us, to ordain them as federal rites wherein the new Covenant is ratified to us; VIII. 1 Cor. xii. 12 vi. 53. 56. and to make them the instruments of our incorpo- CHAP. ration, union, life, and growth, in the Body of Christ; and because He has constituted them the proper and efficacious means for the conveyance of -14. x. 16, 17. His grace, pardon, and goodness to us, and for the quieting of our consciences, the illumination of our minds, and the preservation of our souls and bodies; and because He has made them also to be John iii. 3-5. memorials of His past pledges of His present, and Mark xvi. 16. earnests of His future love to all who receive them worthily; and because He has appointed them to be visible symbols and tokens by which the members of Christ show their love for each other, and thus edify each other, and strengthen the unity of the body by mutual indwelling in Christ; and finally, Because our Saviour, Christ Himself, has declared them to be necessary to salvation.1 1 HUGO, de Sacramentis, lib. i. cap. 5. Institutio sacramentorum, quantum ad Deum auctorem, dispensationis est; quantum vero ad hominem obedientem, necessitatis: quoniam in potestate Dei est præter ista hominem salvare; sed in potestate hominis non est sine istis ad salutem pervenire. HOOKER, V. LVII. 4. It is not ordinarily God's will to bestow the grace of sacraments on any but by the Sacraments; which grace also they that receive by Sacraments, or with Sacraments, receive it from him, and not from them. For of Sacraments the very same is true which Solomon's Wisd. xvi. 7. Wisdom observeth in the brazen serpent. He that turned towards it was not healed by the thing he saw, but by Thee, O Saviour of all. The use of them is in our hands, the effect in His. HOOKER, V. LX. 4. If Christ Himself, which giveth salvation, do require Baptism, it is not for us, that look for salvation, to examine Him whether unbaptized men may be saved, but seriously to do that which is required, and religiously to fear the danger which may grow from the want thereof. Q. 3. By whom are the Sacraments administered? John xx. 21, A. By persons lawfully1 called and sent for that 22. purpose. Matt. xxviii. 19. PART I. Is. xxiv. 2. 1 XXXIX ARTICLES, Art. xxiii. Q. 4. By what name are the Ministers of the Sacraments distinguished from those to whom they minister? A. They are called xanpixoi, clerici, clerks, or clergy; and are thus distinguished from the other members of the Church, who are called aòs, or laity.1 1 S. CLEMENT, Ep. ad Cor. i. 40. Abp. De MARCA, Dissertatio de discrimine laicorum et clericorum (in the Appendix to his Concordia,) p. 84. Q. 5. What is the origin of these words? A. The Clergy are so called from xλйpos,1 a lot or portion, because they are allotted and consecrated to God, or because He and His Church is their lot and inheritance; and the Laity of the Christian Church are so termed, as being the chosen nation and peculiar people of God 1 SUIDAS κλῆρος, τὸ σύστημα τῶν διακόνων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων. S. HIERON. ad Nepotian. de vitâ Clericorum. Propterea vocantur Clerici vel quia de sorte sunt Domini vel quia Dominus sors, id est pars, Clericorum est. S. CHRYSOST. in Act. Apost. i. 17, 18. "Exaxɛ Tòv xλňρov τῆς διακονίας ταύτης· κλῆρον δὲ αὐτὸν καλεῖ δεικνὺς τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος τὸ πᾶν ὃν, καὶ ἀναμιμνήσκων αὐτοὺς τῶν παλαιῶν, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς αὐτοὺς ἐκληρώσατο καθάπερ τοὺς Λευίτας. Vide et in i. 26. ἔδωκαν κλήρους αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ κλῆρος ἐπὶ Ματθίαν. Num. xviii. 24. Vers. LXXII. ¿yw ǹ μɛpís oov xai ý xanpoνομία σου. The word xanpixoi was sometimes, indeed, applied in ancient times to the inferior Ministers, the superior being called ἱερεῖς. 66 the 2 Bp. BILSON, Perpet. Government of Christ's Church, chap. x. p. 202, ed. Oxf. 1842. And so the learned know the word aaòs, whence lay is derived, importeth even Lord's peculiar poeple;" which distinction of people from priest is neither profane nor strange in the Scriptures. "There shall be," saith Esay, "like people, like priest." 39.66 And so saith Osee; as also Jeremy divideth the Church into CHAP. the "prophet,' priest," and "people." As for the name VIII. of Clergymen, Jerome saith, "Therefore are they called Clergymen, or Clerks, either because they are the Lord's Hosea iv. 4. portion (to serve the Church of Christ,) or for that the Lord Jer. xxiii. 11. is their portion and part (to live on such things as are dedi- xxvi. 7. cated to the Lord.") Q. 6. But how is this assertion of the necessity of a call and ordination of special persons consistent with the expressions of St. Peter to whole congregations, "Ye are a chosen generation, a 1 Pet. ii. 9. royal priesthood;" and of St. John, "He hath Rev. i. 6. made us unto our God, kings and priests?" Do not these words seem to intimate that all Christians are priests to God? A. Certainly they do. All men, especially all who are in authority and in eminent stations, as Kings, Nobles, Magistrates, Statesmen, Legislators, Poets, Parents, are in a certain sense Priests of God, and are consecrated to His service. In the words of St. Augustine, "Christians, whether lay or clergy, are priests, for they are all members of the one High Priest, Jesus Christ. They are a holy Temple of God, and their souls are His altars, on which they do sacrifice to Him;" but then the special manifestation of God's Word and Sacraments is committed to certain persons, who have accordingly, in Scripture, particular designations, as being separated for the work whereunto Acts xiii. 2. they are called; whence arise the relative duties 1 Cor. ix. 11. of Clergy and Laity which are enjoined in nume- Gal. vi. 6. rous places of Holy Writ; and "Ecclesia non est," says St. Jerome, quæ non habet Sacerdotes. Christ gave not all, but some Apostles, and some Prophets, for the work of the ministry, says St. Acts xx. 28, Paul, and he asks, "Are all Apostles? are all Pro- 12. phets? are all Teachers?" No; every one in his 1 Cor. xiv. 16. own order. And St. James would not have directed James v. 14. 66 13. 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. Phil. ii. 29. 17. Eph. iv. 11, 1 Cor. xii. 29. I. PART Priests to be sent for, if every one was a Priest; and by such a general interpretation of St. Peter's and St. John's words, all degrees, civil as well as ecclesiastical, would be confounded; for then every one would be not only a Priest, but every one would also be a King. On the contrary, the expression is itself an evidence and proof that special priests as well as special Kings are designated of God; and its true meaning is, that Christians are to be distinguished, in spiritual things, from the rest of the world, as Kings and Priests, each in their respective functions, are distinguished from others who have not their peculiar duties. 1 Cor. xiv. 16. 1 S. AUGUST. in Joan. Evang. Tractatus li. Cum ergo auditis, fratres, Dominum dicentem, Ubi ego sum, illic et minister meus erit; nolite tantummodo bonos Episcopos et Clericos cogitare. Etiam vos pro modo vestro ministrate Christo, bene vivendo, eleemosynas faciendo, nomen doctrinamque ejus quibus potueritis prædicando; ut unusquisque etiam pater familias hoc nomine agnoscat paternum affectum suæ familiæ se debere. Pro Christo et pro vitâ æternâ, suos omnes admoneat, doceat, hortetur, corripiat; impendat benevolentiam, exerceat disciplinam; ita in domo suâ ecclesiasticum et quodammodo Episcopale implebit officium, ministrans Christo, ut in æternum sit cum ipso. 2 S. AUG. de Civ. Dei, xx. 10. Psalm xciv. p. 1465. 3 TERTULLIAN. de Baptism. 17. Dandi baptismum jus habet summus sacerdos, qui est Episcopus, dehinc Presbyteri et Diaconi non tamen sine Episcopi auctoritate. TERTULLIAN, de Coron. 3. Eucharistiæ sacramentum non de aliorum manu quam præsidentium sumimus. See S. HIERON. Part i. chap. x. ans. 7, note. TERTULLIAN. de Præscript. Hæret. 39, on the practice of heretical as opposed to that of Catholic congregations:-Ordinationes eorum temerariæ, leves, inconstantes. Itaque alius hodie Episcopus, cras alius; hodie Diaconus qui cras Lector; hodie Presbyter qui cras Laicus. OPTATUS, ad Parmen. ii. 25. Quatuor genera sunt in Ecclesiâ, Episcoporum, Presbyterorum, Diaconorum, et Fidelium. 4 S. HIERON. adv. Lucif. c. 8. S. CHRYSOSTOM. ad 1 Cor. xiv. 16. ORDINAL of the Church of England. There shall be a |