ecclesiastic from the rest of the faithful, and devotes them specially to the divine service. This the Apostle seems to have had in view, when he thus addressed Timothy: " Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the imposition of the hands of the priesthood;" [1] and again, " I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace of God, which is in thee by the imposition of my hands." [2]
On the Sacrament of Orders let thus much suffice. Our purpose has been to lay before the pastor the most important particulars upon the subject, in order to supply him with matter upon which he may draw for the instruction of the faithful, and their advancement in Christian piety.
ON THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY.
As it is the duty of the pastor to propose to himself the holiness and perfection of the faithful, his earnest desires must be in full accordance with those of the Apostle, when, writing to the Corinthians, he says: " I would that all men were even as myself;" [3] that is, that all embraced the virtue of continence. If there be any one blessing superior to every other, it surely falls to the lot of him who, unlettered by the distracting cares of the world, the turbulence of passion tranquillized, the unruly desires of the flesh extinguished, reposes in the practice of piety and the contemplation of heavenly things. But as, according to the same Apostle, " every one hath his proper gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that," [4] and marriage is gifted with many divine blessings, holding, as it does, a place amongst the Sacraments of the Church, and honoured, as it was, by the presence of our Lord himself, [5] it becomes the obvious duty of the pastor to expound its doctrine; particularly when we find that St. Paul, and the prince of the Apostles, have, in many places, minutely described to us not only the dignity but also the duties of the married state. Filled with the Spirit of God," they well understood the numerous and import ant advantages which must flow to Christian society from a knowledge of the sanctity and an inviolable observance of the obligations of marriage; whilst they saw that from an ignorance of the former, and a disregard of the latter, marriage must prove the fertile source of the greatest evils, and the heaviest calamities to the Church of God.
The nature and import of marriage are, therefore, to be explained; for as vice not unfrequently assumes the semblance of virtue, care must be taken that the faithful be not deceived
