canons were everywhere the same, that the mode of reconciliation with God and his Church was uniform through all these countries. Therefore, the usage of Africa in the third century, in reference to penance, may be taken as fairly representing at that time the discipline and belief of the Catholic Church, and Thascius Cyprian is a voucher for us, that through the orthodox countries of Europe and Africa, the sacrament of penance was administered in the third century in substantially the same form in which it is administered at the present day.

§ 5. Extreme unction.-Without leaving the African Church, we have to migrate from Carthage to Alexandria, with a view to discover the traces of the sacramental rite mentioned by St. James, in the fifth chapter of his epistle the last which Christians received when about to pass from time into eternity. Not that the Church of Carthage was without its sacrament of extreme unction; but there is no allusion to it by the two witnesses to the faith of that Church, whom we have hitherto brought forward; and in search of a solitary dogma it appeared desirable not to pass the limits of a nation whose national faith and practice had been taken as a fair illustration of those of the universal Church.

Origen, the writer whom we are about to cite here, was not only a very learned man, but he was about as travelled a Christian as any of the illustrious ones of his age. Let us just glance at his career. He was born in Alexandria, where he studied under St. Clement, who was then rector of the illustrious catechetical school of that city. At a suitable age he succeeded to the mastership of this school-so distinguished under him for deep learning and orthodoxy, that it was frequented by the greatest scholars of the day-so happy in the results of its training, that "innumerable doctors, priests, confessors, and martyrs came forth from its walls." The experience of Origen was not confined to his native city, nor was his acquaintance with Christian usages limited to his native Church. He went out into the world while yet

a young man; and during a large portion of his eventful career, he conversed on terms of intimacy with the most orthodox bishops, and disputed with the impugners of Christian truth in various cities of the East and West. It will be sufficient to indicate here a few of the more remarkable places which history tells us he visited. He journeyed to Rome in the pontificate of Zepherinus, where he remained some time inspecting with delight that ancient Church, and illustrious capital of the universe. We find him at Antioch in the year 218; in Cæsarea in Palestine, in 230. About this time he undertook various journeys between Asia Minor, Palestine, and Egypt. In 238 he was sent on a mission into Arabia, for the purpose of remonstrating with Beryllus, bishop of Bosra, who had fallen into various errors relating to the Divinity of Christ. Afterwards he turns up in Cappadocia; subsequently, in Tyre, where he died in 253, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

It must be admitted, that the experiences of Origen were rather extensive, and he cannot be regarded as other than a valuable exponent of Christian practice in his day. In his second homily on Leviticus, he alludes to the ceremony of anointing the sick with oil, as one of the sacred usages through which remission of sin is obtained in the new dispensation. His words are as follows:-" There is still a seventh remission of sin, difficult and laborious though it be-by penance, wherein the sinner watereth his bed with his tears, and his tears become unto him bread day and night, and wherein he blusheth not to tell his sin to the priest of God and to seek a remedy, after the manner of him who says-'I have said I will declare against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart.' In which, too, the saying of the Apostle is fulfilled: Is any one sick among you, let him call the priests of the Church, and let them impose hands on him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,'" &c.1

It is necessary to throw some light on this

1 Origen in Levit., Homil. ii. No. 4, op. tom. ii.

passage, in

P. 191.

order that we may understand the precise significance of the concluding words, as employed by its distinguished author. The words in question are in substance taken from the epistle of St. James. They are used by Origen to illustrate the rite of penance, by which under the new law the pardon of sins is obtained. He had been speaking of the old law and enumerating its sacrifices for sin. It was natural that he should pass to the new law, and mention the means of justification furnished by it to its followers. Among these means, he says, is penance, which consists in penitential works and a declaration of sin to the priest of the Lord. Here we might suppose that Origen would stop, as the mention of the sacrament of penance was amply sufficient for his purpose. He chooses, however, to add, that the imposition of the priest's hands and anointing, which take place in the case of the sick, are also a penitential usage by which the guilt of sin is expunged. Observe, he does not say whether the sick of his day were anointed when death approached, neither does he say they were not. He does not speak of a practice, but of a principle. He does not speak of a usage general or local, but of a precept laid down by an Apostle. His words convince us that the injunction of St. James was not ignored in the Church of the third century. Then we naturally argue thus:-A rite, remissive of sin, consequently Divinely instituted, spoken of plainly by one of the Apostolic writers, was known and appreciated by Origen. Consequently, it was performed in its due circumstances through the Christian Churches, with which he was acquainted. If not, it was no practical illustration of the penitential order of the new law, nor a part of Christianity as distinguished from local religious customs.

§ 6. Holy Orders.-It was clearly shown in a previous section of this work, that the orders of a bishop are different from those of a priest. The candidate for the episcopacy of a given Church was generally from among those who had been some time before admitted to sacerdotal orders. Hands were imposed on him a second time,

when he was about to be raised to the episcopal grade. In the history of the election of Sabinus, related in the synodical letter of the fourth council of Carthage, we are told that the episcopacy was given him first, and “that hands were then imposed on him ;" 1 by both of which acts he was substituted in the place of Basilides, deposed. Had he been first a priest? We are not told; but it is clear, that if he were taken from an inferior order of the clergy, the circumstance would not be passed over in silence. In the narrative of the election of Cornelius, episcopal ordination is still more distinctly illustrated. We are told that he had gone through all ecclesiastical offices before he was raised to the dignity of the priesthood. "Promoted through all ecclesiastical offices and in Divine ministrations, having often pleased God much, he ascended to the sublime height of the priesthood through all the grades of religion." Here we have him certainly a priest, and we want to know after what manner he was elevated to the episcopal charge. The writer of the narrative, who is no other than St. Cyprian, tells us that " he was made a bishop" by many other bishops then at Rome, who subsequently sent abroad letters, in which they announced and attested his ordination. Cyprian's words are :-" He was made bishop by many of our colleagues, who were at that time in the city of Rome, who sent us letters of his ordination, honourable and praiseworthy, and distinguished by the evidence afforded of the fact announced." Cornelius was ordained when he was made priest. He received a second application of the sacrament of orders when he was placed on the episcopal throne.

These two instances will be sufficient to prove to us that sacerdotal and episcopal orders were conferred at different times, and by ceremonies perfectly distinct. In what respect these ceremonies differed it is not easy to ascer

Reliq. Sacræ. No. 5, p. 1028, tom. iii. Curs. Compl. Patrol., series 1ma. Paris, 1844.

2 Cypr. Ep. x. No. 8, p. 768, ibid.

3 Ibid. p. 770.

tain from the documents of the time, as no specific picture of either of them is therein delineated. That priestly ordination was the work of one bishop, while episcopal ordination was conferred in the presence of more than one, we are justified in concluding from the letters of St. Cyprian, for whenever the election of a bishop is introduced, we are given to understand that several bishops attended. Indeed, this point is cleared up by a fact related of the priest Novatianus, in the sixth book of the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius. Novatian was a schismatic priest, who, to further his ambitious views, attempted to creep surreptitiously into the episcopacy. We may be perfectly convinced that, in the mode of ordination he concocted, he, for appearance sake, endeavoured to imitate the rite as administered by authority in the Church. What then did he do? Who did he get to ordain him bishop? Eusebius tells us, that "he deooyed three bishops, from the vilest part of the Church, shut them up to the tenth hour, and when they were feasted and full of wine, he forcibly compelled them, by a futile imposition of hands, to confer the episcopacy on himself." Here we have an example of the episcopacy conferred by three-conferred by the imposition of hands-so conferred upon him who was already in sacerdotal orders.

Distinct as were the ceremonies by which the two grades of the priesthood were attained, they both agreed in one particular-they conferred grace. Like the imposition of hands of the apostolic Church, they poured a copious and permanent grace into the souls of their recipients. And it was in the virtue of this grace that priests and bishops alike consecrated the Eucharist, conferred the sacraments, absolved from sin, and preserved in the Church the succession of the ministry. Without this grace there would be neither priest nor bishop; but the rulers of the Church would be laymen, or perhaps assimilated to the unordained and powerless pastors whom heresy set over itself-to whom Cyprian refers in his treatise on "The Unity of

Euseb. Hist., lib. vi. c. 43.