Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/43

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CHAP. L] INTRODUCTION. 35 Vlq, L1TUROICAL BOOKS. 1. By these we mean those antho?ized standards used in the public worship of the Church of Rome. These are the Breviary, Missal, Pontifical, Ritual, and devotional books. 2. The BREVIARY contains the daily s?rvice of the Church of Rome. 3. The MISSAL embraces the service c?onnected with the a?hninistra* tied of the sacrament of the Lord's supper; and as such contains matter of considerable importance in the controversy on transubstantiation?a doctrine successfully upset by the very form of the Canon 4. The ROMAN PONTIFICAL iS fifil of important matter, add is par- ticularly remarkable for the form of election, coronation, and adoraZ/on of the pope; and for being the le?timate placo in which the ep/s�opa/ ? ofa#e?/m?'.e to the ? is found. It also contains the form of re- conciling apostates, hereticx, and scAisma?icsta remarkable ceremony. 5. The Roman RtTu^'.. w?s fixed in its present state by the authorit.v of Paul V., by a bull of 1614. There are gleanings in it of some im- portanco to the elucidation of extreme unction. Connected with these are _lVames of t? ?lessed Virgin, Graduals, AntipAoners, Processlone. rs, Sacred Ceremonies, &c. 6. The DEVO?ION?r. ?00SS of the Roman Church, issuing from her members, tacitly or openly approved, and uncondemned in her Pro- hibitory Indexes, furnish another bond which binds every Romanist. To this class belong the Offce of t? sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary; tke Garden of the Soul; the little O?�e of the Immaculate Conception, &c.; all with approbations of apostolical vicars, &c. These hturgical books extend to and comprehend all that relates to divine worship, and are binding on every member of the Church of Rome. VIII. SCRIPTURF-8. The Scripture in the Latin Vulgate is a part, according to the?n, of the revealed will of God, and forms a portion of their authentic standard of faith. So the creed of Pins :' "I also admit the sacred Scriptures, according to the sense which the holy mother church has held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the ?rue sense and interpret- ation of the Holy Scriptures: nor will I ever take or interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers." To the Scriptures, as received by Protestams, they add the apocrypha, and receive them equally as the canonical Scripture. When the Scriptures are translated by them, notes are always added to the text as the explanation of the church. The Scripture too is to be rl?ceived in that sense in which the church receives it; and by this means Scripture is resolved into the authority of the church. Such a recep- tion of Scripture leads to their great geneial maxim, "I believe what- soever the church teaches," which is called, in their technical ?hraseology, AN ACT OF FAITH. IX. TRADITIONS--THE CHURCH. The creed of Pins says, "I most firmly admit and embrace apos- tolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions sad ob- servances of the asme church." Thus, whatever the present church teaches now, or whatever the tbrmer Church of Rome ever taught, is an aAicle of faith to which every Roman Catholic is bound to submit. 1