The oldest of all the Protestant confessions of faith is that of Augsburg, of which several articles related to the sacraments. That celebrated document was pre- pared by Melancthon, and read, June 27, 1.530, in the presence of the emperor Charles V and liis court, in- cluding many prominent Roman Catholic tlieologians. Although its tone was apologetic, nevertheless its ut- terances were distinctly Protestant, except in some of the articles relating to the sacraments.
Part I, Art.VIlI, allows the validity of the sacraments, although admiiii.«tcred by evil men.
Art. IX declares that baptism is necessary to salva- tion.
Art. X is in these words: "Of the Lord's supper, thev (the Lutherans) teach that the [true] body and blood of
Christ are truly present [uuder the form of bread and wine], and are [there] communicated to those that eat iu the Lord's supper."
Alt. XIII, On the Use of the Sacraments, contains the following language: "They were ordained, not only to be marks of professiou among men, but rather that they should be signs aud testimonies of the will of God to- wards us, set forth unto us to stir up aud couflrm faith in such as use them. Therefore men must use sacraments so as to join faith with them which believes the promises that are oflered aud declared unto us by the sacrameuts. Wherefore they (the Lutherans) condemn those that teach that the sacraments do justify by the work done {ex opere operatu), and do uot teach that faith which believes the remission of sins is requisite in the sacraments."
Part II, Art. I, enjoins communion in both kinds, and discouutenauces the carrying about the elements iu pro- cession.
Art. Ill says: "Our churches are wrongfully accused of having abolished the mass; for the mass is still re- tained amoug us, aud celebrated with great reveience." Nevertheless, the article proceeds to condemn private masses as being celebrated only for lucre's sake.
The Augsburg Confession does not definitely assert, but clearly implies, that the sacraments are only two iu number. The Helvetic Confession of 153G was explicit on that point, stating, also, that both baptism and the eucharist are only outward signs of the hidden things, or inward graces, spiritually imparted to faith in the promises of God. That confession also denies that the body and blood of Christ are naturally united, locally included, or actually present in the material bread and wine ; but it affirms that the bread and wine, by the in- stitution of (iod, are symbols through which, as from Christ himself, by the ministry of the Church, a true spiritual communication of his body and blood is made, not in perishable food, but for the sustenance of the soul's life.
In the further development of Protestantism, the most noted ecclesiastical statement of the doctrine of the sacraments is found in the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, originally adopted in 1563. The following extracts embrace the more important points :
" Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christiau men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses and efiectnal sisus of grace aud God's good-will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, hut also strengthen and coufiim, our faith in him." "There are two sacraments ordained of Christ om- Lord iu the Gos- pel; that is to say, baptism and the supper of the Lord." "Those five commonly called sacraments — that is to say, confirmation, penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction — are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the apostles, ])artly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not like uature of sacra- ments with baptism and the Lord's supper, for that tliey have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God." " The sacrameuts were not ordaiued of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them; and in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesome effect or operation. . . . Transubstan- tiation (or the chauiie of the substance of bread and wine) in the supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is if'pugnant to the plain woids of Scripture, over- throws t le nature of a sacrament, and hath given occa- sion to many superstitions. The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the supper only after a heavenly aud spiritual manner ; and the mean whereby the body of (;hrist is received and eaten in the supper is faith."
In the three symbols above quoted may be seen the types of doctrine which have prevailed, with slight variations of expression, in all Protestant evangelical churches. The Lutheran churches of Europe and Amer- ica have alone followed the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession. The Calvinistic churches of all countries have followed, in the main, the Zwinglian doctrine as set forth in the first Helvetic Confession ; while the formula of the Church of England has been adopted by the Methodist churches of Great Britain and Amer- ica and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States,
Notwithstanding the variations of views and state- ments that prevailed among the diftorent branches of early Protestantism, yet so substantial was the unity among all classes of the reformers in rejecting the doc-