Council of Trent.1 We read thus : " Si quis dixerit, Christianos omnes in verbo, et omnibus sacramentis administrandis habere potestatem ; anathema sit." The Council say in " all " the sacra- ments ; for the Church of Kome, although denying the power of any but canonically ordained priests to render the administration of the sacraments efficacious, admits of the efficacy of lay baptism. Again, " Si quis dixerit, in ministris, dum sacramentis conficiunt, et conferunt, non requiri intentionem saltern faciendi, quod facit ecclesia ; anathema sit." Intention is defined to be the purpose of doing what Christ ordained and what the Church is accustomed to do. On this subject Bellarmin says, (1.) It is not necessary (in baptism at least) that the administrator should have an intel- ligent intention of doing what the Church does ; for he may be ignorant of the doctrine of the Church ; all that is required is that he intend to administer a Church ordinance. (2.) It is not necessary that he intend to do what the Church of Rome does ; but what the true Church, whatever that may be, is accustomed to do. Hence, he says, the Catholic Church does not rebaptize those who have been baptized by the Geneva churches. *4 Non tollit efficaciam sacramenti error ministri circa ecclesiam, sed de- fectus intentionis." (3.) That not actual intention, but only vir- tual, is required. " Virtualis dicitur, cum actualis intend in praesenti non adest ob aliquam evagationem mentis, tamen paulo ante adfuit et in virtute illius sit operatio." 2 On this account the Roman Catechism says, that baptism administered by a here- tic, a Jew, or a heathen, is efficacious : " Si id efficere propositum eis fuerit, quod ecclesia Catholica in eo administrationis genere efficit." 3 This agrees with the popular view of the doctrine of intention. The administrator must intend to produce the effect which the sacrament was designed to accomplish. If he baptizes, he must intend to regenerate ; if he absolves, he must intend to absolve ; if he consecrates the bread and wine, he must intend their transmutation ; if he offers the host, he must intend it as a sacrifice ; and if offered for a particular person, he must intend it to take effect for his benefit. According to this view everything depends on the will of the officiating priest.
1 Sess. vii. ; Canones de Sacramentis in genere, 10, 11; Streitwolf, vol. i. p. 40.
2 Bellarmin, Be Sacramentis in genere, i. xxvii. ; Disputationes, edit. Paris, 1608, vol. iii. pp. 94, d, 95.
« Catechismus Romanus, n. ii. 18 (xxii. 24 ) ; Streitwolf. Libri Symbolici, vol. i. p. 270.
516 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
§ 5. The Necessity of the Sacraments.
The distinction between the necessity of precept and the ne- cessity of means, is obvious and important. No one would be willing to say, without qualification, that it is unnecessary to obey an explicit command of Christ. And as He has commanded his disciples to baptize all who arc received as members of his Church, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and required his disciples statedly to commemorate his death by the celebration of the Lord's Supper, the strongest moral obligation rests upon his people to obey these commands. But the obligation to obey any command, such as to observe the Sabbath, to visit the sick, and to relieve the poor, depends on circumstances. No opportunity may be offered ; or the discharge of the duty may be hindered by external circumstances ; or we may lack the ability to render the service required. So with regard to the command to be baptized and to commemorate the Lord's death at his table, it is evident that many circumstances may occur to prevent obedience even on the part of those who have the disposition and purpose to do whatever their Lord re- quires at their hands. And even where obedience is not pre- vented by external circumstances, it may be prevented by igno- rance, or by unfounded scruples of conscience.
By the necessity of means is usually understood an absolute necessity, a " sine qua non." In this sense food is a necessity of life ; light is necessary to the exercise of vision ; the Word is necessary to the exercise of faith, for it is its object, the thing which is to be believed ; and faith is, on the part of adults, neces- sary to salvation, for it is the act of receiving the grace of God offered in the Bible. And therefore times almost without num- ber, it is said in Scripture, that we are saved by faith, that he that believeth shall be saved, and that he that believeth not shall not see life.
The question between the Reformed on the one hand, and Lutherans and Romanists on the other, is in which of these senses are the sacraments necessary. According to the Reformed they have the necessity of precept. The use of them is enjoined as a duty ; but they are not necessary means of salvation. Men may be saved without them. The benefits which they signify and which they are the means of signifying, sealing, and apply- ing to believers, are not so tied to their use that those benefits can- not be secured without them. Sins may be forgiven, and the soul