ntering heaven (and Christ so declares),
they must be capable of receiving Baptism, without which Christ says no
one can enter the kingdom of God.

While in adults faith and sorrow for sin are required before receiving
Baptism, no disposition is required in infants.

They contracted original sin without their knowledge; without their
knowledge they are freed from it.

By Baptism they are made heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

They can be made heirs of property, of a kingdom on earth without their
consent; why not also of the kingdom of heaven?

Baptism is the first of the seven sacraments which the Church confers
upon man. It cleanses us from original sin (actual sin also if the
recipient be guilty of any), makes us Christians, children of God, and
heirs of heaven. It prepares us for the reception of the other
sacraments. By Baptism we all contracted the obligation of believing and
practising the doctrines of Jesus Christ as taught us by the true
Church. We fulfil this obligation by _leading a truly Christian life_.

XV. The Marriage Tie--One and Indissoluble

"But I say to you that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for
the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery; and he that
shall marry her that is put away committeth adultery" (_Matt_. v. 33).

"What, therefore, God hath joined together, let no man put asunder"
(_Matt_. xix. 5, 6).

FEW practices of the Church have been productive of more good to society
than that concerning Christian marriage. The Christian family is the
foundation of Christian society, and Christian marriage is the basis of
the Christian family. Without marriage neither the family nor society
could exist. Marriage was instituted by God before society existed, and,
as a natural consequence, it is subject not to the laws of society, but
to the laws of God and His Church. The principal law and necessary
condition of Christian marriage is its unity and indissolubility. It is
the union of one man with one woman for the purposes intended by the
Creator, which union is to last as long as both survive. Such was
marriage in the beginning; to such it was restored by our Saviour when
He made it a sacrament of His law and a type of His union with His
Church.

The practice of the Catholic Church in not permitting a divorce that
will allow either party to marry during the life of the other, is
clearly taught by Jesus Christ in the 5th chapter of Matthew: "He who
puts away his