clared by the apostle to be most proper, and conducive to the end of their vocation. (4) The ďuties of their state, as pastors of the flock of Jesus Christ, make the married state in a manner incompatible with their vocation; for they are chosen by Jesus Christ, and separated from the rest of mankind for the service" of the gospel of God," Rom. i. 1, that they" may go and bring forth fruit," in the conversion of souls to God, and "that their fruit may remain," John xv. 16.; they are dedicated, by their vocation, to this holy service of God and his gospel, and are obliged to give their whole attention to the good of their people's souls; to instruct them, to administer the sacraments to them, to comfort them in their distress, to assist them in their sickness, and especially when death approaches; and, for this purpose, to answer their calls at all times, by night or by day, even though at the risk of their own life, when the good of their people's souls requires it. Now, it is evidently incompatible with the cares of a wife and family to discharge all these duties properly; and, therefore, St. Paul says, "No man, being a soldier of God, entangleth himself with worldly business, that he may please him to whom he hath engaged himself," 2 Tim. ii. 4. Now, the Church, well knowing that no kind of worldly business so much entangleth a man and withdraweth him from the duties of the pastoral charge, as the cares of a wife and family, therefore, she expressly requires her pastors to abstain from a state so inconsistent with that charge. (5.) In the apostles' time, when the Church began, there was a necessity for taking married people into the priesthood, because, for want of labourers in the vineyard, there was no room for choice; and, therefore, the apostles did not make any express law against doing so; yet we find the strongest injunctions in

their sacred writings, that all who were admitted into that holy state should live chaste and continent lives. Thus St. Paul affirms, that "a bishop must be sober, just, holy, continent," Tit. i. 8.; and writing to Timothy on the virtues proper for his state as a pastor, he says, "be thou an example of the faithful in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in chastity," 1 Tim. iv. 12.; and again, I charge thee before God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels-keep thyself chaste," 1 Tim. v. 21, 23.; and giving a catalogue of the virtues belonging to the ministers of Christ, he says, "In all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience-in chastity," 2 Cor. vi. 4, 6. In consequence of this, we find, from the earliest monuments of antiquity, that, even when married people were admitted into the sacred ministry, they generally abstained from all cohabitation with their wives ever after; till, in process of time, when the number of the faithful increased, so that there was no difficulty of getting plenty of young people trained up to the service of the Church, the law was made, for all the above reasons, obliging all, who entered into sacred orders, to observe a perpetual chastity.

Q. 17. Is it not a great hardship on human nature to be obliged by such a law?

A. By no means; for none are obliged to enter into that state but with their own free consent, and none ought to enter into it but such as are called by God, as Aaron was." Now, they know the. conditions beforehand, they freely accept of them; and, as the law is founded, as we have seen, on the clearest and most evident principles of holy Scripture, when God Almighty calls one to that state, he never refuses the necessary helps of his

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grace to enable him to accomplish all the obligations annexed to it. Continency is, without doubt, a gift of God; for his holy word assures us, that a man cannot otherwise be continent, except God give it," Wisd. viii. 21.; and our Saviour, after enlarging a good deal on this subject, adds, "All men receive not this word, but they to whom it is given," Matth. xix. 11.; and St. Paul, after saying, "I would that all men were even with myself, with regard to their leading a single life; he immediately adds, "but every one hath his proper gift from God," 1 Cor. vii. 7. This grace, then, is given to some; and to whom God will be more ready to give it, than to those whom he calls to that state, to which his holy Church, from the principles he himself has laid down in the sacred writings, has so solemnly annexed this obligation? And, indeed, nothing more admirably shews the finger of God, than to see such vast numbers as embrace the ecclesiastical state living in the strictest purity, even amidst the many dangerous occasions to which their necessary communication with the world, in their charge of souls, so frequently exposes them. It is not by the strength of nature or constitution that they live in such purity; nature is incapable, by its own strength, of practising a virtue which is so opposite to all the most violent inclinations of flesh and blood. It is the grace of Jesus Christ alone which bestows this gift upon them; and the chaste and continent lives they lead is a manifest proof of the interposition. of God, and of his divine approbation of the conduct of the Church, in requiring the faithful observance of this virtue from her ministers.

Q. 18. But are there not many of the clergy. who transgress this law, notwithstanding their great obligation to observe it?

A. Nothing is more unjust than the conduct of mankind on this head. That there have been, and, as long as men are men, will be examples of bad men among the clergy, is readily granted, because but too true. There was a Judas among the twelve apostles of Christ; there was a Nicolaus among the seven deacons ordained by the apostles themselves; there was an Ananias and Sapphira among the first Christians; there was an incestuous Corinthian among the disciples of St. Paul in that city; no wonder, then, that among such great numbers as enter into the ministry of the Church, some should be found who are a scandal to their sacred character. But surely nothing can be more unjust and unreasonable than to condemn that state of life, because some ofits members do not live up to the sanctity of it, or to attribute to the whole what is only the fault of a few: yet such is the judgment of the world. A few, who, perhaps, embrace that state, not by a call from God, but from worldly motives, or who have lost the spirit of their vocation by not corresponding to the helps that vocation afforded them, on that account give bad examples and public scandal; immediately all consideration of the great numbers of others who lead the most edifying and exemplary lives, is laid aside; the tongues of men are let loose against the sacred state itself, and all its members are indiscriminately involved in the same condemnation! But we need not be surprised at this, because our blessed Master himself says to his apostles, and in them to all their successors," If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you," John xv. 18.

CHAPTER XXVII.

OF THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE.

Q. 1. WHAT is marriage or matrimony?

A. It is an indissoluble union, contracted by mutual consent, between one man and one woman, in a lawful manner, by which they are obliged to live together all the days of their life. It may be considered in three different states:

(1.) As a natural contract, conformable to the natural desire of mankind for propagating the human species, and gives the married party a mutual right to each other's bodies, according to that of the Scripture,The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and, in like manner, the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife," 1 Cor. vii. 4. God himself is the author of this contract, and at the beginning of the world he created both the sexes, male and female, on purpose to be united in it for the propagation of mankind; thus Christ himselt says, "He who made man in the beginning, made them male and female-wherefore, they are no more two, but one flesh," Matth. xix. 4, 5.

(2.) As a civil contract; for, upon the multiplication on the earth, they formed themselves into larger societies, of many families joined in one body, for their mutual protection and defence, and for securing to individuals the undisturbed possession of their property. For this purpose, it was necessary to make proper laws and regulations, by which this security might be obtained. And as nothing contributes more to the good of the state, and the public tranquillity, than to have the natural contract of marriage properly regulated, with regard to the