of all signs, words are evidently the most significant, and with out them it would be difficult to comprehend what the matter of the Sacraments may designate and declare. Water, for instance, has the quality of cooling as well as of cleansing, and may be symbolic of either. In baptism, therefore, unless the words were added, it might be matter of conjecture, of certainty it could not, which was signified; but when the words which compose the form are added, we are no longer at a loss to understand, that baptism possesses and signifies the power of cleansing. [1]
In this, the Sacraments of the New Law excel those of the Old, that there was no definite form, known to us, of administering those of the Old, a circumstance which rendered them uncertain and obscure, whilst, in those of the new, the form is so definite, that any, even a casual, deviation from it renders the Sacrament null; and it is therefore expressed in the clearest terms, and such as exclude the possibility of doubt. These then are the parts which belong to the nature and substance of the Sacraments, and of which every Sacrament is necessarily composed.
To these are added certain ceremonies, which although not to be omitted without sin, unless in case of necessity, yet, if at any time omitted, because not essential to its existence, do not invalidate the Sacrament. It is not without good reason, that the administration of the Sacraments has been, at all times, from the earliest ages of the Church, accompanied with certain solemn ceremonies. There is, in the first place, an obvious propriety in manifesting such a religious reverence to the sacred mysteries, as to appear to handle holy things holily. These ceremonies also serve to display more fully, and place as it were be fore our eyes, the effects of the Sacraments, and to impress more deeply on the minds of the faithful the sanctity of these sacred institutions. They also elevate to sublime contemplation the minds of those who behold them with respectful and religious attention; and excite within them the virtues of faith and of charity. To enable the faithful therefore to know, and understand clearly, the meaning of the ceremonies made use of in the administration of each Sacrament, should be an object of special care and attention to the pastor.
We now come to explain the number of the Sacraments; a knowledge of which is attended with this .advantage, that the greater the number of supernatural aids to salvation which the faithful shall understand to have been provided by the divine goodness, the more ardent the piety with which they will direct all the powers of their souls to praise and proclaim the singular beneficence of God.
The Sacraments then of the Catholic Church are seven, as is proved from Scripture, from the unbroken tradition of the Fathers, and from the authoritative definitions of councils. [2] Why
