There is a diflerence oetwecn the two great sacraments of the Gospel, in that baptism may be received once only, and the eucharist daily. The one confers an indelible character; the otner does not. The same dillerunce divides the other five. Confirmation and orders resemble bajitism. Once baptized, always baptized ; once confirmed, always confirmed ; once a priest, always a priest. No one may have these rites repeated for hmiself ; nor is there any need of repetition. But penance and unction admit of repetition. Matrimony belongs partly to the one class and partly to the other. No repetition of the rite is admissible between the same two parties ; but when death has removed one, the other is free to have the rite repeated. Augustine writes thus of baptism and orders: utruiiu/iie enim sacramentum est ; et quadam con- »et:mti(tne utrunique homini dcitur: illiid, cum brtjiliz'ttnr, isluil, cum ordinatur : idcoque in Ciitlwlica vtruiiique nun licet iterari {Con. en. Par- men, ii. 28). A\ ith regard to matrimony he says that its benefits are threefold, fides, proles, sacra- mentum ; and he explains the last, ut conjugium twn scji'trc.tur, et dimiasus aut dimissa nee causa prolLi iiltcri conjungatur (de Gen. ix. 12 : cf. con. t'aust. xix. 2(1; ili; Supt. et Cvnciiji. i. U). See, fur- ther, llainack, IJist. of Dogma [Kng. tr.], vi. 201 If.
* Hugo de 6U Vtctore, following Ihe Au^^uatinian definition of a •acranienl oji r^i nacra signum, cnnnieraU-8 some twenty or thirty lemer Moranu>nt«, iw the ritiml use of holy water, of MtheH, of palm-branches, of the paochal candle, of bcllH, and of curtains; also certain actJi, on Dialling the si^ of the cross, bowinif the head or the knee ; and certain utterances, oif hoini- niM rohUcum, Alifluia, the recitation of the Z>epro/u7w/ij«, the JuMlal', the Creed, etc. (d« Sacrammtit, II. ll. 1-9; Migne, Pat. hat. clxxvl. <7I).
t Tile anointing of a king, the washing of the salnta" feet, and the salt given in certain Latin rite's to catechumens, have all been called ' sacrament*,' r.i;. in the (}elai«ian Sacranientary is a prayer tU htec crtatura Muu in nomine Trinilatit t.Jjiciatur talMtare tacramentuin.
The question, whether there were sacraments under the OT, is, like the question of the number of sacraments under the N 1", to a large extent a question of definition. What is meant by a sacra- ment? Definitions which exclude all but baptism and the eucharist of course exclude all OT rites. Hut those who, with Augustine, regard sacra- ments as essential to the life of a religious com- mnnity must allow sacraments to the Jewish Church. Yet if, as he holds, the sacramental character of marriage consists in its indissolubility, thxn marriage, which is a sacrament under the Christian dispensation, was not a sacrament under the Jewish, which allowed divorce. The sacrifices and other rites were sacraments to the Jews, necessary then, but superfluous now. The differ- ence is this : sacramenta Novi Testamcnti dant scdutem, ; sacraiiwnta Veteris Testamenti pro- miicrunt Salvatorem. . . . Mutata sunt sacra- menta; facta sunt ficiliora, pauciora, salubriora, fcliciora (in Ps. Lxxiii. 2). Both, however, tell of the passion and resurrection of Christ, the one by promising, the other by commemorating (con. tavst. xix. 16).
LiTKRATtHR. — Juenin (French Oratorian), Commentariut liuitnriciu et Dfxjniaticits de SaeraiiwntU, Lyons, 1717; Uhar- don, Uuituire (U^ ."iacret/ients, Paris, 1745 ; Uahii (Protestant), Ditctriiux Romaruf dc Suiiu-ro .Sacrajnentwuin geplt'iiario rationeji kistoricoi, Breslau, 1S59, and i>(> hrhre von den Sacra- menteii, 1864. Moi^t uomni. on the XX.\1.K Articles discuss the question and quote literature ; alao uio^it Theolo>;ical Dictiouariea. A. PLUMMER.
SACRIFICE.—
A. SACRiricE I.N OT Times.
i. Definition and Name. ii. The Origin of Sacrifice. iii. Semitic Sacrifice in the pre-Mosaic period, iv. Sacrifice in ancient Israel.
V. Tlie Prophets as reformers of Sacrificial worship. vL The Sacrificial system of the Priestly Code : 1. Forms of Sacrifice ; 2. Etlicacy of the Bloody Sacrifices. vlf. Sacrifice in Judaistic practice and theory.
B. Sackificial DOCTRINK OP NT.
i. Appreciation of OT Sacrifices. Ii. Tile perfect Sacrifice of the New Covenant. liL The Sacrifices of the Christiaa life. Literature.
A. Sacrifice in OT Times.
I. Definition and Name.— The rites which are comprehended under the name of Sacrifice, while exhioiting inany forms and embodying an equal complexity of ideas, yet display certain constant features which invest them with a character of unity. Four notes will serve to elm idate their place and function in distinction from other manifestations of the religious life.
(a) .Sacrifice belongs to the class of specifically religious acts, known as cultus or worship, by which man seeks to draw near to God. When religion is permeated by intense moral earnestness, greater importance is ascribed to character and conduct than to worship, yet even in the perfectly ethical religion of Christianity the cultus has sur- vived as at once a cherished privilege and a sacred obligation. In those religions in which tlie ethical interest is weak or absent, the paramount interest attaches to the aiMiropriateness and imjircssiveness of the ceremonial aiiproach to the Deity. And amonj' the elements of the cultus, by the consent of antiquity, the rite of sjicrifico excelled and over- shadowed all other ordinances in the ellicacji of its appeal to the object of worship.— (: ) Sacrifice is distinguished from other ordinances of worship in that it takes tlie form of the rendering to (iod of a material oblation. The ejeineiits of worship are at bottom two — forms which express the con- descension of God to man, and forms which express the appeal of man to God. Of the.se the first has its familiar example in the proclamation