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Ought the intention of the minister to be fixed as to a certain person or matter?

"Yes, as is plain from the very forms of the Sacraments : thus by I baptize thee, I absolve thee, a certain and determined person is designated; and in the form of the Eucharist, the pronoun hoc designates the determined matter to be consecrated.

"Hence in the Roman missal, where, concerning defects of the mass, 87, we read thus: 'If any one has before him eleven hosts, and intends to consecrate only ten: not determining which ten he intends: in these cases he does not consecrate, because the intention is required.' For a reason cannot be given, why in this case one should be consecrated rather than another.

"What if any should think that there were only ten hosts, and there should be eleven, or that he holds a single one whilst he holds two?

"They will all be regularly consecrated: because he has the intention of consecrating that which was placed before him; or his intention is directed simply to the matter before him," &c.

An intention which is based on certain conditions renders the Sacrament invalid, unless the conditions are verified. (No. 42.)

Of the number of the Sacraments. (No. 46.)

The Sacraments of the New Law are seven; to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders and Matrimony.

The primary reason of this is the will of Christ as made known by divine tradition. "This number of seven is also insinuated in various passages of Scripture. Thus Prov. ix. 1. it is said, Wisdom, which is Christ, has built a house for herself, that is the Church, and she hath hewn out SEVEN pillars, doubtless the seven Sacraments, which like so many pillars sustain the church.

"So in like manner, Exod. xxv. by the seven lamps which were on one candlestick, this is implied: for there are seven Sacraments, just so many as there are lamps, which illumine the church," &c. (!!)

This peculiar exegesis is further sustained by an argument

based upon reason, thus. "These SEVEN things seem necessary for a man in order to live and preserve his life, &c. &c. -viz. that he should be ushered into the light, increased, nourished; healed, if he falls into sickness: that the weakness of his strength be recruited; farther as regards the state, that magistrates may never be wanting by whose authority and rule, government may be exercised and lastly that by the legitimate propagation of offspring it may preserve itself and the human race."

"From all which things, since it appears that they sufficiently correspond to that life by which the soul lives in God, the number of the Sacraments may easily be inferred for thus by baptism a man is born again in Christ, &c."

CHAPTER XXXV.

TREATISE CONCERNING THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.

PREFACE.

Decree of the Council of Florence for the instruction of the Armenians.

·“Holy Baptism, which is the gate of spiritual life, occupies the first place of all the sacraments; for by it we are made members of Christ and of the body of the Church. And as through the first man, death has passed upon all; unless we are born again, of water and the Holy Spirit, we cannot (as the Truth declares) enter into the kingdom of heaven. The matter of this sacrament is true and natural water: nor is it of importance whether it be cold or hot. But the form is: I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Yet we do not deny but that also by these words, Let this servant of Christ be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; or, such a one is baptized by my hands, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, a true baptism may be performed: because as the principal source from which baptism derives its virtue is the Most Holy Trinity, and the instrumental one is the minister, if the act is expressed, which is exercised by the minister himself, with the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity,

the sacrament is performed. The minister of this sacrament is the priest, on whom it is ex officio incumbent to baptize. But in case of necessity, not only a priest, or deacon, but also a layman, or woman, indeed even a pagan and a heretic may baptize, provided only he observes the form of the Church, and intends to do what the Church does. The effect of this sacrament is the remission of all original and actual guilt; also of all punishment, which is due for that guilt. On this account no satisfaction is to be enjoined upon baptized persons for past sins; but if they die before they commit any fault, they immediately arrive at the kingdom of heaven, and the vision of God.”

Canons of the Council of Trent concerning Baptism.

"1. Whoever shall say that the baptism of John had the same virtue as the baptism of Christ; let him be accursed!

"2. Whoever shall say that true and natural water is not absolutely necessary for baptism, and therefore wrests those words of our Lord Jesus Christ, as though they had been a kind of metaphor: 'Except a man be born of water, and the Holy Spirit;' let him be accursed!

"3. Whoever shall say that in the Roman Church, which is the mother and mistress of all churches, the doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism is not true; let him be accursed!

"4. Whoever shall say that the baptism which is also given by heretics, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church does, is not true baptism; let him be accursed!

"5. Whoever shall say that baptism is optional, that is, not necessary to salvation; let him be accursed!

“6. Whoever shall say that a baptized person cannot, even if he would, lose grace, how much soever he may sin, unless he is unwilling to believe; let him be accursed!

"7. Whoever shall say that baptized persons, by baptism itself, become debtors to preserve faith alone, and not the whole law of Christ; let him be accursed!

8. Whoever shall say that baptized persons are free from all precepts of Holy Church, which are either written or traditional, so that they are not bound to observe them, unless they choose to submit themselves to them of their own accord; let him be accursed!

"9. Whoever shall say that men are so to be recalled to the memory of the baptism which they have received, that they may regard all the vows which are made after baptism as null and void, by virtue of the promise already made in baptism itself, as if by it they detract from

the faith which they have professed, and from the baptism itself; let him be accursed!

“10. Whoever shall say that all the sins which are committed after baptism, by the mere remembrance and faith of the baptism received, are either dismissed or become venial; let him be accursed!

"11. Whoever shall say that a baptism, truly and with due ceremony conferred, is to be repeated on him who has denied the faith of Christ among infidels, when he is converted to repentance; let him be accursed!

"12. Whoever shall say that no one is to be baptized, except at that age at which Christ was baptized, or in the article of death; let him be accursed!

"13. Whoever shall say that infants, because they have not the act of faith, are not to be reckoned among believers after having received baptism, and on this account are to be re-baptized when they arrive at years of discretion; or that it is better that their baptism be omitted, than that they should be baptized in the faith only of the Church, when they do not believe by their own act; let him be accursed!

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14. Whoever shall say that baptized children of this kind, when they have grown up, are to be asked whether they wish to have that ratified which their sponsors promised in their name when they were baptized; and that when they reply that they are unwilling, they are to be left to their own choice; and that they are not in the mean time to be compelled by any other punishment to a Christian life, except that they be prohibited the enjoyment of the Eucharist, and the other sacraments, until they repent; let him be accursed!"

CONCERNING THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.

The sacrament of baptism is defined as "the external washing of the body, performed with the prescribed form of words; and by the Roman Catechism: the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word. But it is commonly defined, A sacrament instituted by Christ the Lord, in which through the external ablution of the body with the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, a person is spiritually regenerated."

"Did Christ himself baptize no one?

"Although it is said, John iv. 2, Although Jesus did not baptize, but his disciples;' it is still on the whole probable, that he at least baptized some one of the Apostles, lest the Apostles, when unbaptized, should have baptized others: and

therefore Nicephorus quotes from Eurodius Antiochanus, that Christ himself with his own hands baptized Peter. Others say, that Christ did this in the case of his mother and John the Baptist." (No. 2.)

The remote matter of Baptism is all natural or elementary water, and that only.

"Mention some kinds of natural water which are sufficient for the matter of baptism.

"Such are the water of the sea, rain-water, water from a spring, or river, mineral water; whether it is muddy or clear; cold or hot; whether it has been blessed or not.

"The same is maintained with S. Thom. concerning lye and the waters of sulphur baths. So also of waters, dissolved from hail, snow, or ice, before the ablution. Henno and Billuart say the same of the moisture of a pavement, or of walls, in damp weather; also of water strained out of clay.

"On the other hand, baptism is invalid when performed with clay, wine, thick beer, milk, oil, spittle, sweat, tears, urine; also with ice, snow or hail not yet dissolved; also most probably with rose water, or any other distilled from trees, herbs, or flowers.

"Yet they maintain plausibly that it is valid with beer, gruel, tea, and similar weak and light decoctions: but it would certainly not be valid if the solution of the distilled substances is made so strong that the liquor has more of the foreign substance than of the water. It is more doubtful in the case of water dissolved out of salt." (No. 3.) "From the preceding remarks, infer "1. That every one who administers baptism is bound to use the proper matter under mortal sin, properly speaking. "2. If the proper matter is not at hand, and necessity is urgent, he may and should apply doubtful matter, always preferring the less doubtful.

"3. If the child thus baptized in doubtful matter afterwards survives, it must be re-baptized on this condition in proper matter.

"4. But to use matter which is positively insufficient, (as wine, oil, &c.) whatever necessity may urge, is useless and unlawful."