Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

"but as fpittle. The fame is to be faid, "if in washing the mouth a drop of water "be fwallowed, provided it be against our " will.

"Fourth, in the action. If any requi"fite be wanting, it is no facrament; for example, if it be celebrated out of holy ground, or upon an altar not confecra❝ted, or not covered with three napkins: "if there be no wax candles; if it be not "celebrated between day-break and noon; "if the celebrator have not faid mattins "with lauds; if he omit any of the fa"cerdotal robes; if thefe robes and the

napkins be not blessed by a bishop; if "there be no clerk prefent to serve, or << one who ought not to ferve, a woman, "for example; if there be no chalice, the cup of which is gold, or filver, or pewter; if the vestment be not of clean "linen adorned with filk in the middle,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

and bleffed by a bishop; if the priest "celebrate with his head covered; if there "be no miffal prefent, tho' he have it by "heart.

"If a gnat or fpider fall into the cup "after confecration, the priest must swal"low it with the blood, if he can: other

વડ

[ocr errors]

wife,

[ocr errors]

"wife, let him take it out, wafh it with "wine, burn it, and throw it with the

washings into holy ground. If poifon "fall into the cup, the blood must be

༄ *

poured on tow or on a linen cloth, re"main till it be dry, then be burnt, and "the afhes be thrown upon holy ground. "If the hoft be poifoned, it must be kept "in a tabernacle till it be corrupted.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"If the blood freeze in winter, put warm cloths about the cup: if that be not fufficient, put the cup in boiling

water.

"If any of Chrift's blood fall on the ground by negligence, it must be licked up with the tongue, and the place fcraped: the fcrapings must be burnt, and "the afhes buried in holy ground.

[ocr errors]

"If the priest vomit the eucharist, and "the fpecies appear entire, it must be "licked up moft reverently. If a nausea

66

prevent that to be done, it must be kept "till it be corrupted. If the fpecies do

not appear, let the vomit be burnt, and "the afhes thrown upon holy ground."

As the foregoing article has beyond intention fwelled to an enormous fize, I fhall add but one other article, which shall be extremely

extremely fhort; and that is the creed of Athanafius, It is a heap of unintelligible jargon; and yet we are appointed to believe every article of it, under the pain of eternal damnation. As it enjoins belief of rank contradictions, it feems purposely calculated to be a test of flavifh fubmiffion to the tyrannical authority of a proud and arrogant priest *.

* Bishop Burnet feems doubtful whether this creed was compofed by Athanafius. His doubts, in my apprehenfion, are fcarce fufficient to weigh against the unanimous opinion of the Chriftian church.

CHAP.

IN

CHA P. III.

Religious Worship.

N the foregoing chapter are traced the gradual advances of the fenfe of Deity, from its imperfect ftate among favages to its maturity among enlightened nations; difplaying to us one great being, to whom all other beings owe their existence, who made the world, and who governs it by perfect laws. And our perception of Deity, arifing from that fense, is fortified by an intuitive propofition, that there neceffarily muft exift fome being who had no beginning. Confidering the Deity as the author of our exiftence, we owe him gratitude; confidering him as governor of the world, we owe him obedience: and upon these duties is founded the obligation we are under to worship him. Further, God made man for fociety, and implanted in his nature the moral fenfe to direct his conduct in VOL. IV. that

[ocr errors]

that state. From thefe premises, may it not with certainty be inferred to be the will of God, that men fhould obey the dictates of the moral fenfe in fulfilling every duty of justice and benevolence? These moral duties, it would appear, are our chief business in this life; being enforced not only by a moral but by a religious principle.

Morality, as laid down in a former sketch, confifts of two great branches, the moral fenfe which unfolds the duty we owe to our fellow-creatures, and an active moral principle which prompts us to perform that duty. Natural religion confists also of two great branches, the sense of Deity which unfolds our duty to our Maker, and the active principle of devotion which prompts us to perform our duty to him. The univerfality of the fenfe of Deity proves it to be innate; the fame reason proves the principle of devotion to be innate; for all men agree in worshipping fuperior beings, whatever difference there may be in the mode of worship.

Both branches of the duty we owe to God, that of worshipping himy and that of obeying his will with refpect to our fellow

« AnteriorContinuar »