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to know God and Jesus Christ as we ought, is to know all that is necessary to make us eternally happy; this Jesus Christ himself declares, saying to his Father, "This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," John xvii. 3. Now, the sign of the cross is a memorial of this wholesome knowledge, and serves to keep us in mind of it, as being the most important thing we have to think. upon, or take a concern in, in the whole world; for the words we pronounce, when making this sacred sign, contain an invocation of the blessed Trinity, one God, and three Persons, and the very sign itself calls to our mind the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, God made mau.

(2.) The sign of the cross is an external profession of our faith, a distinguishing mark of the members of the Church of Christ; it is the livery of Jesus Christ, by which his followers are known and distinguished from Turks, Jews, and Heretics. In making this sign we openly profess that we believe in one God and three Persons; that God the Son was made man, and died on the cross for us, and that we are Catholics, and members of the Church of Christ, that is, of that sacred body of which Christ is the head.

(3.) It is also, on many occasions, an external protestation of our hope and confidence in God, through the merits of Christ," by whom we have access in one Spirit to the Father," Eph. ii. 18. For when we begin our prayers by making the sign of the cross, we by this profess that our only hope of being heard, is through the merits of the cross of Jesus; when we offer up any thing to God Almighty, and dedicate it to his service, we sign it with the sign of the cross, to signify that we have no hope of its being acceptable to him, but only

through the merits of the death of Jesus; when we bless ourselves or other creatures, we make the sign of the cross, to declare that we expect no blessing from God, but through the passion and cross of Jesus; when we administer any sacrament, we make use of the same sacred sign, to shew that all the benefit we expect from the sacrament flows only from the same divine source, the merits of Jesus.

(4.) It is also a memorial of the infinite love of God towards us, who out of pure love for us, gave his only begotten Son to die on the cross for our salvation; and as nothing contributes more effectually to inflame our hearts with love towards our friends than the memory of their love to us, hence this sacred sign is an incentive to our love for God and for Jesus Christ; because it is a memorial of his love to us, and of all the great benefits he obtained for us by its means; his victory over Satan, sin, and hell, his blotting out the hand-writing that was against us, his reconciling us with God, and opening to us the kingdom of heaven.

(5.) It is a great defence against all the assaults of the devil. St. Paul tells us, that Jesus Christ, by his death on the cross, "spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them confidently, triumphing openly over them in himself," Col. ii.15. It was by the cross that the devil was crucified invisibly by Jesus Christ, his hands bound, his power taken from him, and his kingdom destroyed; for this reason he abhors the cross of Christ, and the very sign of it is detestable to him, and, on this account, all the holy Fathers, those ancient and venerable champions of the Christian religion, have left in their writings the warmest commendations of this holy sign, as a most powerful defence and protection against our infernal enemies; and many examples are recorded in the history of

the Church, in all ages, of its wonderful efficacy in this respect, and of numberless miracles being wrought by the holy servants of God by its means.

(6.) It is the sacred mark ordered by God himself to be put upon all those that belong to him, as a means to defend them against the destroying angels in the day of his wrath; which is thus declared in Scripture: "The Lord called to the man that was clothed with linen, and had a writer's inkhorn at his loins, and said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof." And to the others, (to wit, the six angels that had each one his weapon of destruction in his hand," verse 2.) he said in my hearing, "Go ye after him through the city, and strike; let not your eye spare, nor be yo moved with pity; utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children, and women; but, on whomsoever ye shall see Thau, kill him not," Ezek. ix. 4. Thau is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in the old Hebrew characters was the form of a cross, as our T is to this day, as is attested by St. Jerom and other interpreters. The same vision was repeated to St. John in the Revelations, who says, "I saw another angel descending from the rising sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth, and the sea, saying, "Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we seal the servants of our God in their foreheads," Rev. vii. 2. All which was prefigured by the blood of the paschal lamb, which God ordered his people in Egypt to "put upon the sideposts and upper door-posts of their houses," Exod. xii. 7., as their defence, when he sent his

angel to destroy all the first-born of Egypt; "For when I shall see the blood," says he, “I shall pass over you, and the plagne shall not be upon you to destroy you," vers. 13. The paschal lamb was a type of Jesus Christ upon the cross; and the sign of his cross upon our foreheads, is a sign of his precious blood spilt upon the cross for us, which, like the blood of the paschal lamb, preserves us from the destroying angel.

Q. 40. In what manner must we use this holy sign, in order to be partakers of these benefits?

A. St. Paul, speaking of the ceremony of circumcision, says, "Circumcision profiteth, indeed, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcisionThe circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter," Rom. ii. 25, 29. As circumcision was the mark of the people of God under the law, so the sign of the cross is the mark of the followers of Christ under the gospel; consequently, "The sign of the cross profiteth indeed, if we obey the gospel, if it be planted in the heart and spirit as well as in the body;" but without this it will only be an empty sign, or rather, will turn out to our greater condemnation. The sign of the cross is the sign of humility, of patience, of meekness, of charity, the darling virtues of Jesus Christ, which, in the most admirable manner, he practised upon the cross. What will it profit, then, to make the sign of the cross upon the body, if these virtues which it represents are not seated in the heart and spirit?

Q. 41. Is the use of the sign of the cross very ancient in the Church?

A. It is as ancient as Christianity itself; and the practice of the primitive Christians in using it, is thus described by Tertullian, a learned Christian.

writer of the second century: "At every step, at our coming in and going out, when we put on our clothes or shoes, when we wash, when we sit down to table, when we light a candle, when we go to bed-whatever conversation employs us, we imprint on our foreheads the sign of the cross," De Coron. Milit. c. 3.

For all the above reasons then, this sacred sign is frequently made use of by the members of the Catholic Church, both in their private devotions, and in the public exercises of religion, and in a particular manner in the administration of all the sacraments, that it may serve to keep us perpetually in mind, that all the graces and benefits we receive from them, flow only from the merits of the passion and death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, as will appear in explaining the ceremonies of each sacrament in particular.

CHAPTER XX.

OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.

Q. 1. WHAT is the design or end for which the sacrament of baptism was instituted?

A. The design of this sacrament is to make us Christians, to deliver us from the slavery of Satan, under which we are born, to unite us to Jesus Christ, as members of his body; and to give us a title and right to receive all the other sacraments, and helps of religion in this life, and eternal happiness in the life to come.

Q. 2. How is all this done?

A. By the new birth which we receive in baptism, by which we become the children of God,

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