QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

New Zealand Tablet, 26 July 1906, Page 12

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

AN INQUIRER'S DIFFICULTIES

The following further replies given to the inquiries of a non-Catholic friend ('Enlightenment'). They will probably be found to be also of interest to the general reader :— IV. 'Were the seven Sacraments confirmed as an article ot faith in the Council of Trent in 1547 ? ' cOyc O vn RePI 7 Vu TT o nnm^ cv rt of Sacraments was defined to be seven at the Second Council of Lyons, in 1274, at FlorTniV* \4\ 4 \>? n ™ at ?"t nt < 1545 "63). This was no'new dogma, for the Church has no power to make.any such but only to set forth and impose dogmas or articles of SlSi 1 0011^ 11 .^. 11 } the Word of God, or a t least deduced from principles so contained, but as yet not fully here^ihf^Tlffv'r^ ? ase under consideration nf* * Jt+ . CatbOl i c Church m erely gave a new definition S™ w? m %£ at .^ alwa ? s held and acted upon withr?^rs +° l iy T * e defimtlons of Council of Trent in regard to the Sacraments were framed to combat the ZZ n a l Varied . thco ! : . ieß introduced by Luther and others 22 v the ff reli pous revolution of Ihe sixteenth m?n?T; h < "m 0 ! 1 (s - ess - xiii - c - 3) defmed a Sacrament to be 'a visible sign of invisible grace instituted Law° a re sev^^T ' " « Sacra ™nts of S New «n^ w+r^ii B *? Usir h Confirmation, Eucharist, Penfh« P^Sf rr.net? net . lon . H olF Orders, and Matrimony. In the Catholic Chuxch, these were always regarded as bS ? S ,T ? fi lb V c - ° X ou^ ward si gns instituted by Christ for ow MySrv P n^rhHi m PaC n an^ alls H the Sacrament or the name if of lilT (De Ba P tlsln -. -6). But, obviously, that conceals a sacred meaSin", knd a ? Sac?iment 'In wssmmm raSt SaCr)lipentS , and other branches of divinity to r^ts

a £LTit • f nown before b o t *ni*ts sorted them out scienSS2" 7 .J, nto +I,g?nera1 ,g? nera *n d species, and so on, _a*d 'labelled them with their present scientific names. 'pSter LoS coVrec^rmn."* 110 / P lf S l^ ;? tt PP"«» «* complete -and ready hild H- f ° r * t J e do( ; tnne which ■ the. Church . al2SS o « S statement came like a right word which exactly expresses a man's meaning, but" which S former^ nf St + J ad bee + n de ? nWj ' Amon g m e of the &t lormers of the sixteenth century there we-e nrofoiinH thISTSi/t 1 ? Vl6V 16 num n ber of Tost ol them he ld but two. But Melancthon and a number of Iw^f. fe utl i«rans stoutly maintained that ttere wew era?e lthol { t an^ cx PrefssP refss di vine promise of grace Nowadays, a large and steadily erowinc: fcodv of Anghcans accept the seven SacrameJtl Hefe i? 77 t he list as given by the Rev. Vernon Staley in ' A mZ arenmd P h. The tw ° greater Sacraments SS^, <I (U.nSS? m ( .V ) Holy Or<ler . <"•> Ho ly Con St early dawn of the Christian faith, in the fourth c ! tion of his letter to the Philadelphians (the edition bp fo-e us was recently issued by Forranh ?t w+f exhorts the Philad|phiaus to L^Xe altar or place of Sacrifice (thusiasterion) And Z i noted that St. Ignatius was only one remove from th^ Apostles, he havin- been a disciple of St PolvclT wh to make the people respect it. In his 'De CaStiSi uy me wnoie of Christian antiquity. And in thi* mat ter as in regard to the Sacraments, the more eaS F"f ar > st iß.a"cast upon a Sacrfflce • ; an/(n (To be continues.)