earth the person (or character, persona) of God himself, and so are deservedly called not only angels, but even gods, because they hold among us the power and divinity of immortal God; and though priests at all times have obtained supreme dignity, those of the New Testament far surpass all others in honour, for the power conferred upon them of making1 and offering the body and blood of our Lord and remitting sins surpasses human intelligence, and nothing similar to it can be found upon earth.2 This stupendous claim is made to rest on the sayings of Christ, already referred to, in John xx. 21-23, and Matthew xviii. 18, and on the doctrine. of Christ's priesthood after the order of Melchizedek in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There are several orders, divided into major and minor. To the former belong priests, deacons, and subdeacons; to the latter acolytes, exorcists, readers, and door-keepers. Together they constitute the clerical order, so called because they have the Lord as their lot and their inheritance. It is needless to dwell upon the ceremonies applicable to the various ranks, and we may confine our attention to the priesthood. Priesthood is distinguished as internal and external. Inwardly all the faithful are priests, for by faith they offer spiritual sacrifices to God on the altar of their mind. But Ordination belongs only to certain men who are appointed to a sacred ministry in the Church. These are sometimes called presbyters or elders, not only on account of the maturity of their age, but much more on account of the gravity and prudence of their manners; and sometimes priests, sacerdotes, both because they are consecrated to God, and because it pertains to them to administer the Sacraments, and deal with sacred things. When a bishop appoints anyone a priest, he first, along with all the priests who are present, lays his hands upon him. He then places the stole upon his shoulders, 1 'Conficiendi.' Perhaps 'preparing,' or 'providing,' would be a better translation.

2 Cat. Rom., Pars II, cap. vii. § ii.

and arranges it in the form of a cross upon his breast. Afterwards he anoints his hands with sacred oil, and delivers the chalice with wine and the paten with the host, saying, 'Accipe potestatem offerendi sacrificium Deo, missasque celebrandi tam pro vivis, quam pro defunctis.' Finally, laying his hands again upon his head, he says, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins ye remit they are remitted unto them, and whose ye retain they are retained.' There are in the priesthood thus constituted five grades of dignity and power: first, those who are simply priests; secondly, bishops; thirdly, archbishops; fourthly, patriarchs, attached in ancient times to Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem; and lastly, the supreme Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the true and legitimate vicar of Christ the Lord.' A bishop alone can initiate into the major orders; but some abbots are allowed to administer minor orders. Bishops are consecrated by three bishops. Ordination impresses a permanent character, so that he who is once a priest cannot again become a layman.1

In the Church of England bishops and priests form two distinct orders, and in addition to these only deacons are recognized. The solemn and impressive services of ordination are not regarded as a Sacrament, although in the consecration of bishops the words of the archbishop seem to imply a kind of sacramental efficacy:- Receive the Holy Ghost, for the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our hands. . . . And remember that thou stir up the grace of God which is given thee by this imposition of our hands.' Besides the archbishop (or some other bishop appointed by lawful commission) two other bishops must take part in the service. The direction about grace is not used in the ordering of priests and deacons; but in the case of priests the charge to receive the holy Ghost is given, and significant words are added, 'Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven;

1 See Conc. Trid., Sessio xxiii.; Cat. Rom., Pars II, cap. vii.

and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained.' A deacon simply receives authority to fulfil the duties of his office. He is obliged to answer a question to which it is extraordinary that educated men can now reply in the affirmative :— Do you unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament ? '

The Presbyterian Church in Scotland recognizes Ordination only for the 'ministers of the gospel,' who may be pastors or teachers, or both united in one person, and who alone have authority to administer the Sacraments. Ordination is defined as the solemn setting apart of a person to some public church office,' and it is administered by imposition of hands, and prayer, with fasting, by these preaching presbyters to whom it doth belong.' Ordination in the Church of England is regarded as valid, so that one who has been ordained presbyter in that Church is to be admitted without any new ordination.

That ministers of the gospel should be chosen and appointed with due regard to their moral and intellectual qualifications, and should be dedicated to their work by some solemn and impressive form, few will be disposed to deny; and any denomination suffers under a serious weakness which allows unsuitable men to thrust themselves into its ministry by playing on the caprice of some incautious congregation. This, however, is a matter of discipline, with which we are not immediately concerned. The doctrinal division is that between the sacramental theory, which claims a miraculous gift for a particular order of men, and the view that the Divine grace is not limited to any special channel of communication. In this respect the Church of England occupies rather an inconsistent position. It denies that Ordination is a Sacrament; and yet, in the doctrine of apostolical succession, some of its spokesmen make claims. which could not be surpassed by the Pope himself. Cranmer's Catechism, of 1548, says: The ministration of God's Word, which our Lord Jesus Christ did first institute, was

derived from the apostles unto others after them, by imposition of hands and giving the Holy Ghost, from the apostles' time to our days, and thus was the consecration, orders, and unction of the apostles, whereby they at the beginning made bishops and priests, and thus shall continue in the Church even to the world's end. Wherefore, good children, you shall steadfastly believe all those things which such ministers shall speak unto you from the mouth and by the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ. And whatsoever they do to you, as when they baptize you, when they give you absolution, and distribute to you the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, these you shall so esteem as if Christ Himself in His own person did speak and minister unto you. For Christ hath commanded His ministers to do this unto you, and He Himself (although you see Him not with your bodily eyes) is present with His ministers and worketh by the Holy Ghost in the administration of His sacraments. And on the other hand, ye shall take good heed, and beware of false and privy preachers . . . For Christ is not present with such preachers, and therefore doth not the Holy Ghost work by their preaching."1 This is a stupendous claim, which seems entirely opposed to the world's facts. Even if it could be proved historically that there has been an unbroken succession of bishops from the time of the Apostles, there is no evidence that these bishops were guarded by a miraculous grace which belonged to no others. The bishops of the Catholic Church assert that many things are true, and rest on the authority of Christ, which bishops of the Anglican Church flatly deny. Bishops of the same Church do not always agree with one another. The gifts of the Spirit, if we are to judge by their manifestations, are not in fact confined to the selected order; and there is no discoverable difference in piety, learning, and usefulness between the ministers of the Episcopal and of the Non

1 Quoted with approval in A Dictionary of the Church of England by Rev. E. L. Cutts, p. 27.

conformist Churches. That there are men qualified by their spiritual gifts, their possession of the mind of Christ, and their devout insight into Divine things, to help their brethren on their upward way, and to bring them into a clearer consciousness of God's presence, is indeed true, and seems to be one of the providential means by which mankind climbs to higher altitudes; but the Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and has never been shut up within the folds of any visible organization. By the upholders of ecclesiastical theory Christ himself and his Apostles were scorned as having no authority to teach; and Christianity was a movement of the universal soul of man to assert its divine rights, and to deprive every privileged caste of its exclusive pretensions.1

The last of the seven Sacraments is Matrimony. The Catholic Church, while maintaining that celibacy is a better and more blessed state than marriage,2 nevertheless ascribes to the latter a peculiar sanctity, and regards it as indissoluble except by death. In proof that the marriage contract is a Sacrament, appeal is made to Ephesians v. 32, where, after the reference to the union of man and wife, the Vulgate translates, Sacramentum hoc magnum est; ego autem dico in Christo et in ecclesia.' The Catholic Dictionary, however, frankly points out that Sacramentum need not mean a 'Sacrament' any more than the Greek μvoτýptov which it represents, and that in fact it cannot mean a Sacrament in any of the other fifteen places where it occurs. It is also allowed to be uncertain when Christ instituted the Sacrament. 'Some say at the wedding in Cana; others when He abrogated the liberty of divorce (Matt. xix.); others in the great Forty Days after Easter.' There is not, however, a particle of evidence that he instituted a Sacrament on any of these occasions. There has been some uncertainty also about the character of the Sacrament itself; but it is now laid down that the 'parties themselves are the ministers of the 1 See the previous remarks on the Roman claim to apostolicity. 2 Conc. Trid., Sessio xxiv. Canon x.