promissa, non modo nobis repraesentat et adumbrat, sed et certo modo exhibet atque obsignat : nosque vicissim palam publiceque declaramus ac testamur, nos promissiones omnes divinas vera, firma atque obsequiosa fide amplecti, et beneficia ipsius jugi et grata semper memoria celebrare velle." l
" Restat, ut dicamus, Deum gratiam suamper sacramenta nobis exbibere, non earn actu per ilia conferendo ; sed per ilia tanquam signa clara ac evidentia earn repraesentando et ob oculos ponendo non eminus aut sub figuris quibusdam tanquam multo post fu- turam, sed tanquam praesentem : ut ita in signis istis tanquam in speculo quodam, exhibitionem illam gratiae, quam Deus nobis con- cessit, quasi conspiciamus. Estque haec efiicacia nulla alia quam objectiva, quae requirit facultatem cognitivam rite dispositam, ut apprehendere possit illud, quod signum objective menti offert. Hinc videmus, quomodo sacramenta in nobis operentur, nimirum tanquam signa repraesentantia menti nostrae rem cujus signa sunt. Neque alia in illis quaeri debet efiicacia." 2
Zwingle alone of the Reformers seems inclined to this view of the sacraments: "Sunt .... sacramenta," he says, "signa vel ceremoniae, pace tamen omnium dicam, sive neotericorum sive veterum, quibus se homo Ecclesiae probat aut candidatum aut mihtem esse Christi, redduntque Ecclesiam totam potius certi- orem de tua fide quam te. Si enim fides tua non aliter fuerit ab- soluta, quam ut signo ceremoniali egeat, fides non est : fides enim est, qua nitimur misericordiae Dei inconcusse, firmiter et indis- tracte, ut multis locis Paulus habet." 8 Elsewhere he says : " Credo, imo scio omnia sacramenta, tarn abesse ut gratiam conferant, ut
ne adferant quidem aut dispensent Dux autem vel vehic-
ulum Spiritui non est necessarium, ipse enim est virtus et latio qua cuncta f eruntur, non qui f erri opus habeat : neque id unquam leg- imus in scripturis sacris, quod sensibilia, qualia sacramenta sunt, certo secum ferrent Spiritum, sed si sensibilia unquam lata sunt cum Spiritu, jam Spiritus fuit qui tulit, non sensibilia. Sic cum ventus vehemens ferretur, simul adferebantur linguae venti vir- tute, non ferebatur ventus virtute linguarum."4 It is obvious that all that Zwingle here says of the sacraments, might be said of the Word of God ; and, therefore, if he proves anything he
i Confessio Remonstrantium, xxiii. 1; Episcopii Opera, edit. Rotterdam, 1665, vol. ii. p. 92, a, of second set.
2 Limborch, Theologia Christiana, v. lxvi. 31, 32 ; edit. Amsterdam, 1715, p. 606, b.
» De Vera et Falsa Religione, Works, edit. Schuler and Schultess, Turici, 1832, vol. iii. p. 231.
4 Ad Carolum Rom. Imperatorem, Fidei ffuldrychi Zwinglii Ratio, § 7; Niemeyer's Collectio Confessionum, p. 24.
492 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
proves that the sacraments are not means of grace ; he proves the same concerning the Word, to which the Scriptures attribute such an important agency in the sanctification and salvation of men.
§ 3. Number of the Sacraments.
If the word sacrament be taken in the wide sense in which it was used in the early Church for any significant religious rite, it is obvious that no definite limit can be set to their number. If the word be confined to such divine ordinances as answer the conditions which characterize baptism and the Lord's Supper, then it is evident that they are the only sacraments under the Christian dispensation; and such is the view taken by all Protestants. It is true that in the Apology for the Augsburg Confession it is said : " Vere sunt sacramenta, baptismus, Coena Domini, absolutio, quas est sacramentum poenitentiae. Nam hi ritus habent mandatum Dei et promissionem gratiae, quae, est pro- pria Novi Testamenti." The last was soon dropped out of the list of sacraments, although the Lutherans retained confession as a distinct Church institution. The confession however was to be general, an enumeration of sins not being required, and the absolution which followed was simply declarative, and not ju- dicial, as among the Romanists. The Reformed symbols re- quired private confession to be made to God, and general con- fession in the congregation of the people; and recommended in extraordinary cases, where the conscience is burdened or the mind perplexed, private confession to the pastor or spiritual adviser.
The Romanists have seven sacraments, adding to baptism and the Lord's Supper, matrimony, orders, penance, confirmation, and extreme unction. Matrimony, however, although a divine insti- tution, was not ordained for signifying, sealing, and applying to believers the benefits of redemption, and therefore, is not a sacrament. The same may be said of orders. And as to con- firmation, penance, and extreme unction, in the sense in which Romanists use those terms, they are not divine institutions at all.
Confirmation.
Confirmation indeed, or a service attending the introduction of those baptized in infancy, into full communion in the Church, was early instituted and long continued among Protestants as well as among Romanists. Those who had been baptized in
§3.j THE SACRAMENTS. THEIR NUMBER. 493
infancy, had their standing in the Church on the ground of the profession of faith and the engagements made in their name, by their parents or sponsors. When they came to years of discre- tion, they were examined as to their knowledge and conduct, and if found competently instructed and free from scandal, they assumed the obligation of their baptismal vows upon themselves, and their church membership was confirmed. In all this, how- ever, there was nothing of a sacramental character.
This simple service the Romanists have exalted into a sacra- ment. The " material," they say, is the anointing with oil, or the imposition of hands ; or as Thomas Aquinas and Bellarmin say, the two united. Perrone makes the anointing the essential thing. The gift or grace conveyed, " ex opere operato," is that supernatural influence of the Holy Ghost, which enables the recipient to be faithful to his baptismal vows. The administrator must be a prelate, as prelates only are the official successors of the Apostles, and, therefore, they only have the power of con- veying the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands, which was one of the prerogatives of the apostleship.
Penance.
Romanists distinguish between " pcenitentia," repentance or penitence, as a virtue and as a sacrament. As a virtue it consists in sorrow for sin, a determination to forsake it, and a purpose " ad sui vindictam in compensationem injuriaa Deo per peccatum illataa ; " i. e., a purpose to make satisfaction to God. As a sacrament it is an ordinance instituted by Christ for the remis- sion of sins committed after baptism, through the absolution of a priest having jurisdiction. The matter of the sacrament is the act of the penitent including contrition, confession, and satisfac- tion. The form is the act of absolution on the part of the priest. By contrition is meant sorrow, or remorse. It is not necessary that this contrition should be anything more than a natural, as distinguished from a gracious, exercise or state of mind ; or as the Romanists express it, it is not necessary that contrition should be " caritate perfecta." The confession included in this assumed sacrament, must be auricular ; it must include all mortal sins; a sin not confessed is not forgiven. This confession is declared by the Council of Trent to be necessary to salvation. " Si quis negaverit, confessionem sacramentalem vel institutam, vel ad salutem necessariam esse jure divino ; aut dixerit, mo- diun secreti confitendi soli sacerdoti, quern Ecclesia catholica ab
494 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.