4th. Church of England, in the 25th article of religion, affirms that " Sacraments instituted by Christ are not only the badges and tokens of the profession of Christian men, but rather they be certain sure witnesses and effectual signs of grace, and of G-od's good will towards us, by the which he doth work inwardly in us, and cloth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him."
5th. The Wesminster Assembly's Larger Cat., Q. 162 and 163, affirms that a " Sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit to those who are within the covenant of grace the benefits of his mediation, to in- crease their faith and all other graces, to oblige them to obedi- ence, to testify and cherish their love and communion with one another, and to distinguish them from those that are without." " The parts of a sacrament are two, the one an outward and sensible sign used according to Christ's own appointment ; the other an inward spiritual grace thereby signified."
THEIR NUMBER. 471
3. On what principles is such a definition to he constructed ?
1st. It is to be remembered that the term " sacrament" does not occur in the Bible.
2d. From the extreme latitude with which this term has been used, both in the sense proper to it as a Latin word, and in that attributed to it as the conventional equivalent of the Greek word [ivoT?jpLovy it is evident that no definition of a gospel ordinance can be arrived at by a mere reference either to the etymology or ecclesiastical usage of the word " sacramentum."
3d. The definition of a class of gospel ordinances can be prop- erly formed only by a comparison of all the Scriptures teach concerning the origin, nature, and design of those ordinances universally recognized as belonging to that class, and thus by determining those essential elements which are common to each member of the class, and which distinguish them as a class from all other divine ordinances.
4th. Those ordinances which are " universally recognized" as sacraments are baptism and the Lord's supper.
4. How many sacraments do Romanists make, and how may the controversy between them and the Protestants be decided ?
The Koman church teaches that there are seven sacraments, viz., baptism, confirmation, the Lord's supper, penance, extreme unction, orders, marriage.
We maintain, however, that only baptism and the Lord's supper can be properly embraced under either the Protestant or the Catholic definitions of a sacrament, as given above, ques- tion 2.
1st. Confirmation, penance, and extreme unction are not di- vine institutions, having no warrant whatever in Scripture.
2. That marriage instituted by God in Paradise, and ordination to the gospel ministry instituted by Christ, although both divine institutions, are evidently not ordinances of the same kind with baptism and the Lord's supper, and do not meet the conditions of either definitions of a sacrament, since they neither signify nor convey any inward grace.
5. What tivo things are included in every sacrament ?
1st. " An outward visible sign used according to Christ's own
472 SACRAMENTS.
appointment ; 2d, an inward spiritual grace thereby signified. — L. Cat., Q. 163.
The Komanists, in the language of the schoolmen, distinguish between the matter and the form of a sacrament. The matter is that part of the sacrament subjected to the senses, and significant of grace, e. g., the water, and the act of applying the water in baptism, and the bread and wine, and the acts of breaking the bread, and pouring out the wine in the Lord's supper. The form is the divine word used by the minister in administering the ele- ments, devoting them thus to the office of signifying grace.
6. What, according to the Romanists, is the relation between the sign and the grace signified ?
They hold that in consequence of the divine institution, and in virtue of the " power of the Omnipotent which exists in them," the grace signified is contained in the very nature of the sacra- ments themselves, so that it is always conferred, ex opere operato, upon every receiver of them who does not oppose a positive obstacle thereto. Thus they understand the " sacramental union," or re- lation between the sign and the grace signified to be physical, or that which subsists between a substance and its properties, i. e., the virtue of conferring grace is, in the sacraments, as the virtue of burning is in fire. — Council of Trent, Sess. 7, Cans. 6 and 8. Cat. Kom., Part II., Chap. I., Q. 18. Bellarmine de Sacram. 2, 1.
7. What is the Zuinglian doctrine on this subject ? Zuingle, the reformer of Switzerland, held a position at the
opposite extreme to that of the Komish church, viz., that the sign simply represents by appropriate symbols, and symbolical actions, the grace to which it is related. Thus the sacraments are only effective means of the objective presentation of the truth symbolized.