The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1890-05-22

The fourth of Mr.. Arnold's ser
mons upon the principles of the doc
trine of Christ was
LAYING ON OF HANDS,
He said:
The first two of these Fundamental
doctrines Of Christ as stated i'm the
first and second verses of the sixth
chapter of the Epistle to the III ebrews
are the prerequisites for the rites
and sacraments of the Church. They
are spiritual observation-disclosures
and Faith" The third and fourth
of these principles are two external
visible ordinances, or means of grace.
Two more there are representing re-
suits and consequences, the "Resur-
rection OF the Deadn and Eternal
Judgment. Any one reading these
verses must observe that the enIimer-
alton here made follows the natural
and logical orders. The pre-requi-
sites, the means Of grace, and the
results and consequences Of employ
ing or rejecting them. AS regards
five of these principles there is gen.
erai acceptance, as universal perpet-
ual, and essential, but in modern
times one of the six stones on which
the Christian Church was founded
has been removed by some. Some
"ho do not reject the doctrine oflay.
ing ON Of hands, yet deny to it the
characteristics ola principle by claim
ing 1t to have here a temporary rite
administered by the apostles for the
purpose of bestOwing miraculous
powers, or they say it has reference
to ordination. But principles are
perpetual, such was not the supposed
apostles right, and principles are
universal such was neither this sup
posed rite, nor ordination. So either
tie apostle, who placed this ordin-
ance In this brief list of fundamental
principles, erred in 80 classifying this
rite, or else he had reference to some
universal, perpetual and essential or
dlnance. Such a sacramental rite
we find in the Apostolic Church,
which was also faithfully, universal
~ and perpetually observed in the
Church down to the time of the Re
1Oratlon as one Of the essentials of
Christian religion. We have also
the testimony of the ancient fathers
OF the Church to the fact that the
laying on Of hands here referred TO
was what is commonly called con.
among us. Let us now. nv
a brief study of the history of the
early Church as preserved for us in
the "Acts Of the Apostles" to learn
what was the original character of
this rite, by whom administered and
for what purpose. In the eighth
chapter we are informed that Philip,
a recently ordained Deacon went
down to Samaria and preached Christ i
gladly received the Word of God as
spoken by Philip, he received them
into the Church by baptism. AS
soon as the Apostles who had not vet
lett Jerusalem, heard that Samaria
had received the Word, they sent
unto them two Of their number, Pc
ter and John, to bestow upon them
the gift Of Gods Holy Spirit, which
the deacon Philip had not power to
confer. 1t could not have been a
matter Of small consequence wheth-
er or not the rite were administered,
else, certainly Peter and John would
not have gone at once so great dis
tance to lay their hands upon these
persons. From this incident We
learn that only those of Apostolic
powers could confer the gift of the
Holy Ghost in confirmation. Turn
to the tenth chapter of the Acts.
When st. Peter, at the command of
his glorified Master went down to
C@sarea to open the door of the
Church to the Gentiles, he was con-
WINGED by the out-pouring of the Ho-
~ Ghost, while yet speaking that
those outside the privileges Of the
chosen people were get chosen of
God unto salvation. After these
Gentiles had received in the same
the same gift which had been
bestowed upon the Apostles and be.
lieving Jews at Pentecost, st. Peter
them all to be baptized
but did not lay his hands on them
thus proving 10y the very omission
that the rite was performed for the
purpose of confering the Holy Ghost.
In the nineteenth chapter of the
Acts we read that st. Paul found at
Ephesus number of converts who
had received only the baptism of
John the Baptist. Upon enquiry he
learned that these Christians had not
received the Holy Ghost, since they
bad believed, not only this, but did
not even know of the existence of
Holy Ghost. After they were bap-
tised In the name of the Lord Jesus,
the Apostle laid his hands On them
and they received the gift Of the
Holy Ghost. Passing out of the il
spired writings of the New Testa-
ment, we may trace from the very
first down through all the ages of tie
the continuance Of the ar
Gent rite administered i'm the same
and by the same order of tie
ministry. Cyprian, bishop of Car
thage, in the third century, state:
''The baptised were brought to the
chief pastors of the Church, that by
their prayers and the laying on of
their hands they may receive the
Holy Ghost" st. Jerome says:
''This is the usage of our churches:
The bishop goes forth and makes a
tour, in order to lay his hands and
invoke the Holy Ghost on those VIII o
have been baptised by our priests and
deacons. Until the Reformation, by
confirmation, every Christian made
the profession of his faith, and thus
received the gift Of the Holy Ghost;
and to-day, this rite is performed up
on fully five-sixths of those who he
come Christians. May we not by
what we have shown claim tor this
rite the characteristics Of a principle,
that it is perpetual universal and es-
sential. We are not informed of any
revelation from Christ