There seems to be no legal definition of the word "reside". The
law would probably require more than leaving a bag in a room, hired for
twenty-one days, as is often done. It must be remembered that the
object of the law is _publicity_--that is, the avoidance of a
clandestine marriage, which marriage at a Registry Office now
frequently makes so fatally easy.
[11] 25 Hen. VIII, cap. 21.
[12] Such as, for example, Royal Chapels, St. Paul's Cathedral, Eton
College Chapel, etc.
[13] Cf. Blunt's "Church Law," p. 133; 4 Geo. IV, c. 76, s. 21.
[14] It will be remembered that runaway marriages were, in former days,
frequently celebrated at Gretna Green, a Scotch village in
Dumfriesshire, near the English border.
{123}
CHAPTER X.
HOLY ORDER.
The Second Sacrament of Perpetuation is Holy Order. As the Sacrament
of Marriage perpetuates the human race, so the Sacrament of Order
perpetuates the Priesthood. Holy Order, indeed, perpetuates the
Sacraments themselves. It is the ordained channel through which the
Sacramental life of the Church is continued.
Holy Order, then, was instituted for the perpetuation of those
Sacraments which depend upon Apostolic Succession. It makes it
possible for the Christian laity to be Confirmed, Communicated,
Absolved. Thus, the Christian Ministry is a great deal more than a
body of men, chosen as officers might be chosen in the army or navy.
It is the Church's media for the administration of the Sacraments of
Salvation. To say this does not assert that God cannot, and does not,
save and sanctify souls in any other way; but it does assert, as
Scripture does, that the {124} Christian Ministry is the authorized and
ordained way.
The Threefold Ministry.
In this Ministry, there are three orders, or degrees: Bishops, Priests,
and Deacons. In the words of the Prayer Book: "It is evident unto all
men, diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient Authors, that, from
the Apostles' time, there have been these Orders of Ministers in
Christ's Church; Bishops, Priests, and Deacons".[1]
(I) BISHOPS.
Who was the first Bishop? Jesus Christ, "the Shepherd and Bishop of
our souls". When, and where, was the first Ordination? In the Upper
Chamber, when He, the Universal Bishop, Himself ordained the first
Apostles. When was {125} the second Ordination? When these Apostles
ordained Matthias to succeed Judas. This was the first link in the
chain of Apostolic Success
|