The council of Laodicea, held about 364, enacts, "That all the days of Lent must be observed in fasting, and that Thursday in the last week is not to be excepted." Can. i. Conc. Gen. tom. i, p. 1506.

St. Athanasius, before the year 373, says, speaking of what had been done by Gregory the Arian, "These things were transacted in the holy time of Lent itself, about the feast of Easter, when the brethren fasted." In Encycl. t. 1. p. 114.

"

St. Basil, about the same time, writes, "To them who willingly undertake it, fasting is at all times, profitable-but chiefly now, when a solemn fast is every where published. There is no island, no continent, no city, no nation, no corner of the earth, where it is not heard. Let no one then exclude himself from the number of fasters; in which number every age, all ranks, take their place." Homil. ii, de Jejun. tom ii.

St. Ambrose writes about the year 397, "Except Saturday and Sunday, we fast every day in Lent." Lib. de Elia et Jejunio c.

10. tom i.

St. Augustin teaches, before the year 430, that the fast of Lent is recommended by the authority of the fasts of Moses and Elias in the old law, and of Christ in the Gospel. "Christ fasted forty days, to shew that the Gospel was not in opposition to the law and the Prophets." Lib. ii. ad Inquisit. Januarii, tom ii, c. xxv -"Before Easter we fast forty days." Tract xvii, in Joan, tom ix." There are forty days, most holy over the earth, which all Christians, whom God re conciles to himself in Christ, observe with singular devotion, as Easter approaches." Serm. de diversis, 73, tom. x.

The ancient Fathers attest that the Fast of Lent is an Apostolical tradition, or institution.

St. Jerom writes, in his 27th epistle to Marcella, before the year 420,"We fast one Lent by Apostolical tradition, the whole world agreeing with us herein."

St. Leo, about 450, says, "Let the Apostolical institution of forty days be spent in fasting." Serm. vi, de Quadrages. St. Isidore, of Seville,

says, about the year 630," Lent is kept over the whole world, by an Apostolic institution." Orig. lib. vi, c. 19.

The fast of Lent was enforced and observed in the primitive ages, as a duty of conscientious obligation.

St. Cæsarius, of Arles, about the year 540, pronounces, that "To fast on other days is a remedy of sin, and entitles to a reward. Not to fast in Lent, is a sin. He, who fasts at another time, shall obtain pardon. He who is able and does not fast on these days, shall suffer punishment." Hom.ii.

St. Ambrose says, "To neglect entirely the fast of Lent is a

sacrilege to transgress it in part, is a sin." Homil. vii, now xxiii,

n. 2.

In the 69th of the Apostolical Canons, it is enacted, "If any Bishop, Priest, Deacon, Reader, or Precentor, does not fast the forty days of the Passover, or (the weekly stations of) Wednesday and Friday, unless through bodily weakness he be not able, let him be deposed. But if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated."

From the Canons of Councils, the writings of the Fathers, and the practice of the church, from the first ages down to the present time, it appears that the fast of Lent was observed from the beginning as an Apostolical and ecclesiastical law, binding all Christians, as far as health and strength permitted.

NOTE [M], p. 99.

HOLY ORDERS, MATRIMONY, AND EXTREME UNCTION, WERE ADMINISTERED, IN THE EARLIEST AGES OF THE CHURCH, As SACRAMENTS OR INSTITUTIONS OF CHRIST, BY WHICH GRACE

THE principal rite by which Bishops, Priests, and Deacons were ordained from the beginning, was the imposition of hands, accompanied with a set form of words; to this other rites were added, which belonged at least to the integrity of the ordination. By the sacred rite of ordination, the ministers of the church were consecrated, and power and grace were given to them to perform such offices, as belong to their order, and regard the worship of God and the salvation of souls.

The rite of ordination, by which this sacred character, this power and grace are conferred on those who are made ministers of Christ, was practised from the beginning in the Christian Church.

In the fourth Council of Carthage, in the year 398, mention is made of the ordination of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, by the imposition of hands, and prayer. On the ordination of a Priest it is there said, "When a Priest is ordained, while the Bishop blesses him, and holds his hand over his head, the other Priests present shall hold their hands near to that of the Bishop, over his head." Conc. Carth. can. ii. Conc. Gen. tom. ii.

St. Ambrose, or the ancient author of the book on the sacerdotal dignity among the works of St. Ambrose, speaks of the character and grace conferred by the sacrament of orders, in these words, "Who gives the episcopal grace? God, or Man? You will answer without doubt, God: yet God gives it by the ministry of man. It is

man who imposes his hand, it is God who bestows the grace. The Minister imposes his suppliant right hand; and God gives the blessing with his powerful right hand. The Bishop performs the rite of the ordination; but it is God who confers the dignity of the sacred character." cap. v.

St. Chrysostom speaks the same language, in his 14th Homily, on the acts of the Apostles, on the words, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them. (Acts vi, 6.) They were ordained. by prayer. This is the xgorova, the laying on of hands, that is, ordination. The hand is laid on, but God operates: it is his hand, when the ordination is duly performed, that touches the head." tom. ix. The holy Father here teaches that spiritual grace is conferred by the operation of God, when this external right is performed.

The same doctor of the church expresses himself in the following words, on the origin and excellence of the powers of the Christian Priesthood. "Though the Priesthood be exercised on earth, yet it is of a heavenly character. For neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any created power, but the Holy Ghost himself, established that sacred order, and taught men to think, that they exercised a ministry of angels, in a mortal body. Wherefore, whoever is exalted to the Priesthood, ought to be as pure, as if he were already in heaven, among those blessed spirits. When you see our Lord, placed upon the altar, and there offered up, the Bishop celebrating the sacrifice, and praying, purpled, as it were, with that precious blood, do you seem to yourself to be amongst men, and still dwelling on earth? Living, as yet, upon earth, Priests dispense the things of heaven, and they have received a power, which God would not give to angels, nor archangels. It was not to angels, but to Priests that he said, whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt. xviii. 18.) Temporal princes have power to bind the body; the episcopal power binds the soul, and is connected with heaven; God ratifying above, what the Bishop does below; the Master confirming the sentence of his servant.” St. Chrysostom, De Sacerdotio, lib. iii, tom. iv.

St. Augustin teaches, that ordination is a sacrament, no less than baptism. "Both (baptism and order) are sacraments, and both h are by a certain consecration given to man: the first, when he is baptised: the second, when he is ordained: and, therefore, in the Catholic Church, neither of them is repeated." St. Aug. contra Ep. Parmen. lib. ii, cap. xiii, tom. vii.

now bus

St. Leo writes, Besides the authority of general practice, which we know to have come down from the teaching of the Apostles, the Scripture declares, that when Paul and Barnabas, by the command

of the Holy Spirit, were sent to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, they (Simon, Lucius, and Manahen,) fasting and praying, laid their hands upon them; and this, that we might know, how great should be the caution of them that give, and of them that receive it, that the sacrament of so high a grace be not performed negligently." Ep. xi, al. lxxxi, ad Dioscor. Alex,

In the Sacramentary of Pope Gelasius, we have the prayers for the blessing of those who are thereby promoted to different orders.-Liturgia Romana vetus, edente L. A. Muratorio, tom. i, p. 621, 622.

In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, the greater part of the prayers and ceremonies, by which all the orders are conferred, are given nearly in the same words and form, as those which are now observed in the Roman Pontifical.-See Liturgia Romana, tom. ii, p. 405, &c.— Ex Codice Vaticano, sæculi Decimi.

2o. On Matrimony.

Christian matrimony was, from the first ages of the church, considered as a sacrament, by which grace is given to those, who worthily receive it.

Tertullian, about 245, thus speaks of a Christian marriage :-" How can I describe the happiness of that marriage, which the church approves, the oblation confirms, the angels proclaim when sealed, and the Father ratifies." Lib. ad Uxorem, c. ix, p. 282.

St. Ambrose, about the year 397, writes, "We know, that God is the Lord, and the guardian of marriage, who will not suffer another's bed to be defiled. He that commits this crime, sins against God, whose law he violates, whose favour he renounces; and therefore, because he sins against him, he loses the participation of this heavenly sacrament." Lib. i, de Abraham, c. vii, tom. i.-In his 33d Epistle ad Vigil, the same Father says, "The marriage must be rendered holy, by the sacerdotal blessing."

St. Augustin speaks of marriage as a sacrament in various parts of his works. In his book de Bono Conjug he writes, "In the marriages of our women, the sanctity of the sacrament is of the greatest weight," c. xviii, t. vi. "In all nations, the great good of marriage consists in the propagation of children, and the fidelity of the parties; but among Christians, there is, besides, the holiness of the sacrament." Ibid. C. xxiv.

St. Leo, about 460, teaches, that "the nuptial union has, from the beginning, been so appointed, that besides the conjunction of man and woman, there should also be the sacrament of Christ, and his church." Ep. ii, al. xcii, ad Rusticum.

The doctrine, that Christian matrimony is a sacrament, which confers grace on the parties, who worthily receive it, is indeed the common

doctrine of the Latin and Greek church, even of all the heretical and schismatical churches in the East, as is evident from the rituals and books of the administration of sacraments, used by the Greek church, and the churches of the Copths, the Jacobites, the Nestorians, and others.

3°. On Extreme Unction.

This sacred rite, which is administered in the Roman Catholic church to dying persons, in order to strengthen them with grace to bear their sickness with patience, and to die happily, has been used as a sacrament, both by the Latin and Greek churches, from the earliest times.

Pope Innocent I. about the year 417, in his letter to Decentius, an Italian Bishop, after having remarked, that the traditions of the Apostles should be every where observed, and particularly those of Rome, which are derived from St. Peter, says, "You cite the words of St. James, Is any man sick among you, let him bring in the priests of the church, &c. This passage, doubtless, is to be understood of the sick among the faithful, who may be anointed with the holy chrism; which, when consecrated by the Bishop, not only Priests, but all Christians, may use, in anointing themselves and others, in cases of necessity..... When the Bishop can, or is inclined to attend, he may give his blessing, and anoint with that chrism, which it was his office to consecrate." Ep. ad Decent. Conc. Gen. tom. ii.

St. Augustin thus spoke to the faithful:- "As often as sickness happens, the sick man should receive the body and blood of Christ, and then anoint his body, in order to comply with the words of the Apostle, Is any man sick among you, &c. Consider, brethren, that he who, in his sickness, has recourse to the church, will deserve to obtain the restoration of his health, and the forgiveness of his sins." Serm. ccxv. de temp. t. x.

In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great, are found the ancient rite of blessing the holy oil, with which the sick are to be anointed, and the form of administering this sacrament, by prayer, and the unction of the senses of the sick person, with the blessed oil. It is there prescribed, that he should be anointed in the form of a cross. The Priest says, "I anoint thee with the holy oil, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, &c..... and may this sacred unction of oil be to thee an expulsion of disease and weakness, and the wished-for remission of all thy sins." Then he communicates him, with the body and the blood of the Lord." S. Greg, lib, Sacrament. Oratio ad infirmum ungendum.