fice to admonish him to study to make himself acquainted, from the doctrine of the Council, with what regards this subject, and to make it a matter of assiduous exposition to the faithful. [1]
But above all, lest young persons, and youth is a period of life marked by extreme weakness and indiscretion, deceived by the specious but misapplied name of marriage, may rush into hasty engagements, the result of criminal passion; the pastor cannot too frequently remind them that, without the presence of the parish-priest, or of some other priest commissioned by him or by the ordinary, and that of two or three witnesses, there can be no marriage.
The impediments of marriage are also to be explained, a subject so minutely and accurately treated by many writers on morality, of grave authority and profound erudition, as to render it an easy task to the pastor to draw upon their labours, particularly as he has occasion to have such works continually in his hands. The instructions, therefore, which they contain, and also the decrees of the Council with regard to the impediments arising from "spiritual affinity," from "the justice of public honesty," and from " fornication," the pastor will peruse with attention and expound with care and accuracy.
The faithful may hence learn the dispositions with which they should approach the sacrament of marriage: they should consider themselves as about to engage, not in a human work, but in a divine ordinance; and the example of the Fathers of the Old Law, by whom marriage, although not raised to the dignity of a sacrament, was deemed a most holy and religious rite, evinces the singular purity of soul and sentiments of piety, with which Christians should approach so holy a sacrament.
But, amongst many other matters there is one which demands the zealous exhortation of the pastor, it is, that children pay it as a tribute of respect due to their parents, or to those under whose guardianship and authority they are placed, not to engage in marriage without their knowledge, still less in defiance of their express wishes. In the Old Law children were uniformly given in marriage by their parents; and that the will of the parent is always to have very great influence on the choice of the child, is clear from these words of the Apostle: " He that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well; and he that giveth her not, doth better." [2]
Finally, with regard to the use of marriage, this is a subject which the pastor will approach with becoming delicacy, avoiding the use of any expression that may be unfit to meet the ears of the faithful, that may be calculated to offend the piety of some, or excite the laughter of others. "The words of the Lord are chaste words;" [3] and the teachers of a Christian people should make use of no language that is not characterized by gravity, and that does not breathe purity of soul. Two les-
