MATRBIONY
881
MATTANIAH
2. That marriage is no sacrament of the Gospel, speak- ing of such an institution in its proper scriptural accep- tation, may be proved by the following arguments : (1.) Matrimony was instituted in I'aradise long before sin had entered, therefore it cannot be a sacrament of the Gospel ; marriage is observed among infidels and wick- ed persons, who are incapable of receiving worthily the sacraments of the Church. (2.) Papists are inconsistent with themselves in calling marriage a profanation of orders ; some with consummate effrontery assert that to live in a state of concubinage is more tolerable for a priest than to marry. Can they really believe marriage to be a sacrament, which they contemn as vile and pol- luted? Pope Siricius appHed the words of St. Paul, '■'■They that are in the flesh cannot jilease God," in favor of the celibacy of the clergy — thus proving that this pope, in common with many other pontiffs, knew but little of scriptural interpretation, seeing the reference is plainly to deep human depravity and wickedness, but not to the marriage state. (3.) In every sacrament there must be an external sensible sign as the matter, and an appropriate order of words as the form ; but in matri- mony there is neither, therefore it is no sacrament. (4.) Again, none but pious persons can be partakers of the sacraments of the Church ; but piety is not a necessary condition of marriage, therefore marriage is not a sacra- ment. The conditions of confession and absolution, which are sometimes enjoined in the Church of Eome, cannot be pleaded as teaching that piety is required of those who are to be married ; for confession and absolu- tion are no proper concomitants of true piety, seeing the greatest part of those who confess and receive absolu- tion are no otherwise religious than as members of the Church of Rome, and membership in tliat community is rather a presumption against, than in favor of true re- ligion. It does not alter the case to introduce the dis- tinctions which have been made by their theologians, namely, that marriage is often a civil or natural con- tract, and not a sacrament. This distinction is founded on mere technicalities, and not on any scriptural author- ity, either direct or inferential.
3. It is necessary, as they acknowledge, that a sac- rament should be instituted by Christ ; but matrimony' was not instituted by him, therefore, according to their own rule, it is no sacrament. It is in vain for them to say that Christ instituted the sacrament of marriage, when they are unable to produce the words of institu- tion, or to adduce a single circumstance connected with its institution. It is true, the Council of Trent most positively, in their first canon, affirm that Christ did in- stitute.the sacrament of matrimony ; but then neither chapter nor verse is given to prove the fact. Indeed, so divided among themselves are they respecting the time in which Christ converted matrimony into a sac- rament, that the most discordant opinions exist. Let the Roman Catholic Dens speak on the subject: " Some," says he, " say that it was instituted when Christ was present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, which he is said to honor with his presence and bless it (.John ii) ; according to others, when Christ, revoking matrimony to its primeval unity and indissolubleness, rejecting the bill of divorce, said, ' What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder' (Matt, xix) ; but others refer its institution to the time of the forty days between the resurrection and ascension, during which Christ often taught his apostles concerning the kingdom of God, or his Church ; others say the time is uncertain." Thus the institution of marriage as a sacrament cannot be discov- ered by their ablest divines. The Council of Trent is unable to find the place where Christ established it; the Roman Catechism adroitly evades this point, and leaves the matter in the same uncertainty as it found it. We therefore hesitate not to affirm that, although mar- riage was originally instituted by Almighty God, recog- nised by Christ, and its duties explained and enforced by the apostles, nevertheless its institution as a sacra- jaent cannot be found in any part of the New Testa-
V.— K K K.
ment. See, besides, Elliott's Delineation of Romanism, ch. xvi ; Hagenbach, //is?, of Doctrines (see Index, vol. ii) ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, art. Ehe ; Her- zog, Eeul-£ncyklojmdie, art. Ehe. See also Celibacy ; Dispensation ; Divorce ; Marriage ; Sacrajvient.
Matriuce. See Godjiothers.
Matrix Ecclesia. See Ecclesia.
Matsya, a Sanscrit word, signifying aflsh, and form- ing the name, in Hindu mythology, of the first avatar of Vishnu. On that occasion the preserving deity is said to have assumed the form of a great fish shining like gold, and, according to one account, " extending a million leagues," that he might protect the ark which contained Satyavrata and the seven Rhisis with their wives, all the rest of the human race having been de- stroyed by the deluge. See Moor, Hindu Pantheon, s. v. ; Thomas, Diet, of Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Mat'tan (Heb. Mattan', 'jS^'a, a gift, as in Gen. xxxiv, 12, etc.), the name of two men in the Old Testa- ment and one in the New. See also Mithnite.