for this end are. Baptism, which is fbr convejrlng his new or resurrection life to all who believe in him, and to their children, and which is counted valid whether administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersing; the Lord's Supper, in which bread and wine are made in consecration, by the operation of the Hdy Spirit, to be the spiritual mystery of the body and blood of Christ, and are partaken of for the nourishing and strengthening of his feithful members ; and the rite of confirmation or sealing, in which, by the laying on of the hands of aposties, the Holy Ghost is given for endowing with heavenly gifts and the powers of the world to come those who have reached adult age and are walking in holiness of life. In respect to the Eu- charist, they reject the Roman CathoUc doctrine of transubstantiation on the one hand, and that of Zwin- gle on the other, holding that the elements of bread and wine are unchanged in their ph3r8ical properties and essence by consecration, while they are made, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, to be, spiritually and not carnally, the body and blood of the Lord.
To gather the Church as the election of God out of all the nations of the earth, they believe to be the great work of this dispensation, at the completion of which the Lord will return and take his Bride to himself by raising the dead and changing the living saints, and will then proceed to set up his kingdom in the earth. First of all, he will deUver the Jews — ^both the two tribes which are known and the ten which are lost— fh>m their dispersion and exile, and reconstitute them as the metropolitan nation in the land which God gave to their fathers ; and then, by their instrumen- tality, he will extend his salvation to all the families of mankind. This millennial dispensation will continue through the thousand years spoken of by St. John, at the expiration of which there will be an apostasy among the nations outside " the camp of the saints and the beloved city," i. e. those whose standing is distinct both fh)m the Church and the restored nation of Israel, through the instigation of Satan, then for the last time loosed from his prison-house, after which the final judgment, with its eternal retributions of good and evil, will ensue.
The Eucharist is made the centre of worship, as be- ing the commemoration of the death of Christ, which opened the way of entrance into the Holy of Holies, where he now, as our great High-priest, fulfils the work of intercession. In this work his Church is called to take part, which she does in the highest sense when she shows forth his death in this holy sacrament, by presenting unto God in the consecrated elements the memorial of his sacrifice, and thereupon offering pray- ers and intercessions for all men. It is not the expi- atory sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross which the Church thus renews and continues in the Eucharist (as tho Roman Catholics teach), for he died once for all to make atonement for sin, and there can be no repeti- tion of his death ; but it is his present intercessory work in heaven. The Eucharist is celebrated on the forenoon of every Lord^s day, and on other solenm an4 special occasions. The tithes and ofi^rings of the people are brought up during the services, and solenm- ly dedicated to God in prayer. There are also morn- ing and evening services for worship on every day of the year, at 6 A.M. and 5 P.M., consisting of confes- sion of sin with absolution, the reading of the Holy Scriptures, the reciting of the Creed, the singing of a Psalm, and prayers in the fourfold form of supplica- tions, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, which are offered by the priests in order according to thehr respective ministries, all being gathered up and presented to God in the name of Jesus Christ, the great High-priest and Mediator, by the angel of the Church. In the principal congregations there arc shorter services every forenoon and afternoon at nine and at three. There are also meetings for extem- poraneous prayer, that all whom the Spirit moves to
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pray may have liberty to expreae their desfa^ onto God, and for the exercise of splrttnal gifts, in which every one — even women and children — may yield themselves to speak in the power of the Holy Ghost Sermons are preached on Sundays and at appointed times daring the week. A ritual is used, constructed on the principle of gathering in one all that is most valuable in the worship of the whole Church. The ministers wear vestments in the public services, and lights and incense are used for their symbolical char- acter. The ancient ordinance for anointing the sick with oil is restored to its right use ; and for the relief of penitents there is the rite of private confession and absolution, but which is not compulsory, nor for the extortion of secrets. They believe that th^ end at the dispensation is rapidly approaching, and that the ob- ject and aim of all these ministries, and sphitual gifts, and ecclesiastical services, is to make rcAdy a people ibr the Lord.