A minister should be lawfully called and chosen by the Church, and excel in sacred learning, pious eloquence, prudence, and unblemished character (1 Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 5). When elected, a minister should be ordained of the elders by public prayer and the laying on of hands. We reject arbitrary intruders and incompetent pastors. But we acknowledge that innocent simplicity may be more useful than haughty learning.
A minister of the New Testament is not a priest, as in the Jewish dispensation, offering sacrifices for the living and the dead. Christ is our eternal High-priest, who fulfilled and abolished typical sacrifices by his one perfect sacrifice on the cross; and all believers are priests offering spiritual sacrifices--namely, thanksgiving and praise to God continually.
All ministers are equal in power and commission. Bishops and presbyters were originally the same in office, and governed the Church by their united services, mindful of the words of the Lord: 'He who will be chief among you, let him be your servant' (Luke xxii. 26). Jerome (Com. on Titus) says: 'Before, by the instigation of the devil, party spirit and sectarianism arose, the churches were governed by the common counsel of the presbyters; but afterwards, when every one thought that those whom he had baptized belonged to him, not to Christ, it was decreed that one of the presbyters should by election be placed over the rest, and be intrusted with the care of the whole Church, and thus the seed of schisms be destroyed.' But Jerome does not present this decree as divine, for he soon adds that presbyters and bishops know that this distinction is based on ecclesiastical custom, and not on divine command. Therefore no one can be lawfully forbidden to return from human custom to the ancient constitution of the Church of Christ.
The chief duties of ministers are the preaching of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments, the care of souls, and the maintenance of discipline. To do this effectually they must live in the fear of God, pray constantly, study the Scriptures diligently, be always watchful, and shine before all by purity of life. In the exercise of discipline, they should remember that the power was given to them for edification and not for destruction (2 Cor. x. 8; comp. Matt. xiii. 29).
We reject the error of the Donatists, who make the efficacy of the preaching and the sacraments to depend on the moral character of the minister. The voice of Christ must be heard and obeyed even out of the mouth of an unworthy servant (Matt. xxiii. 3); and the sacraments are efficacious to the worthy recipient by virtue of their divine appointment and the Word of Christ. On these things St. Augustine has much disputed from the Scriptures against the Donatists.
Nevertheless, proper control and discipline should be exercised over the doctrine and conduct of ministers in synods. False or immoral teachers should not be tolerated, but warned or deposed. We do not disapprove general or oecumenical councils if they are conducted, according to the apostolic example (Acts xv.), for the welfare, and not for the corruption of the Church.
As the laborer is worthy of reward, the minister is entitled to the maintenance of himself and family from the congregation he serves (1 Cor. ix. 9 sqq.; 1 Tim. v. 18, etc.). Against the Anabaptists, who denounce ministers living off their ministry.
Chap. XIX. The Sacraments of the Church of Christ.--With the preaching of the Word are joined sacraments or sacred rites instituted by God as signs and seals of his promises for the strengthening of our faith, and as pledges on our part for our consecration to him.
The sacraments of the Jewish dispensation were circumcision and the paschal lamb; the sacraments of the Christian dispensation are baptism and the Lord's Supper.
The Papists count seven sacraments. Of these we acknowledge repentance, ordination of ministers, and marriage as useful institutions of God, but not as sacraments. Confirmation and extreme unction are inventions of men, which may be abolished without any loss. We abhor all merchandise carried on with the sacraments by Romish priests.
The supreme benefit of the sacraments is Christ the Saviour, that Lamb of God slain for our sins from the foundation of the world, and that Rock of which all our fathers drank. So far the sacraments of the Old and New Testaments are the same. But we have the abiding substance.
Sacraments consist of the Word, the sign, and the thing signified. By the Word of God and institution of Christ they become sacraments and are sanctified. The sign in baptism is water, the thing signified is regeneration or the washing from sins. The sign in the Lord's Supper is bread and wine, the thing signified is the veritable body and blood of Christ sacrificed for us. The signs are not changed into the things signified; for then they would cease to be sacramental signs, representing the things signified; but they are sacred and efficacious signs and seals. For he who instituted baptism and the Supper intended that we should receive not the outward form only, but the inward blessing, that we should be truly washed from all our sins through faith, and be made partakers of Christ.
The truth and power of the sacraments depend neither on the worthiness of the minister nor that of the receiver, but on the faithfulness of God. Unbelievers do not receive the things offered; but the fault is in men, whose unbelief doth not annul the faith of God (Rom. iii. 3).
Chap. XX. Of Holy Baptism.-- Baptism is instituted by Christ (Matt. xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15). There is only one baptism in the Church; it lasts for life, and is a perpetual seal of our adoption. To be baptized in the name of Christ is to be enrolled, initiated, and received into the covenant, into the family and the inheritance of the sons of God, that, cleansed from our sins by the blood of Christ, we may lead a new and innocent life. We are internally regenerated by the Holy Ghost, but we receive publicly the seal of these blessings by baptism. Water washes away filth, and refreshes and comforts the body; the grace of God inwardly and invisibly cleanses the soul.
By baptism, we are separated from the world and consecrated to God. In baptism we confess our faith and pledge obedience to God. We are enrolled into the holy army of Christ to fight against the World, the flesh, and the devil.
Later human additions to the primitive form of baptism, such as exorcism, the use of burning light, oil, salt, spittle, we judge to be unnecessary.
Baptism is not to be administered by women or by midwives, but by the ministers of the Church.
We condemn those who deny that children of believers should be baptized. For to children belongs the kingdom of God, and they are in covenant with God--why then should not the sign of the covenant be given to them? We are therefore no Anabaptists, and have no communion with them.
Chap. XXI. Of the Holy Supper of our Lord.--The Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, is a grateful commemoration of the benefits of redemption, and a spiritual feast of believers instituted by Christ, wherein he nourishes us with his own flesh and blood by true faith unto eternal life. It signifies and seals to us the greatest benefit and blessing ever conferred on the race of mortals, that he truly delivered his body and shed his blood for the remission of our sins. In it we eat his flesh which is meat indeed, and drink his blood which is drink indeed (Matt xxvi. 20 sqq.; Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 21 sqq.; John vi. 51 sqq.).
This eating is not corporeal and Capernaitic, by the mouth and the stomach, but spiritual, i.e., by the Holy Ghost through faith. 'The flesh,' corporeally eaten, 'profiteth nothing; it is the spirit that quickeneth' (John vi. 63). 'I am the bread of life; he that cometh unto me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst' (John vi. 51). So that eating and drinking here means to come unto Christ and to believe in him. As Augustine says: 'Why preparest thou the tooth and the stomach? Believe, and thou hast eaten.'
Besides the spiritual eating, in the daily communion of the soul with Christ, there is also a sacramental eating, whereby the believer not only inwardly partakes of Christ, but also receives the visible signs and seals of his body and blood at the Lord's table. [787] And with the signs he receives the thing itself. [788] He is nourished and strengthened by spiritual food. The signs are also sure pledges that Christ died not only for men in general, but also individually for every believing communicant. Besides, in partaking of this ordinance we obey the command of our Lord, celebrate his atoning death, give thanks for the great redemption, and openly profess our faith before the congregation.
But those who commune unworthily and without faith receive only the visible signs to their own condemnation or judgment (1 Cor. xi. 27 sqq.).
We therefore do not so conjoin the body and blood of Christ with bread and wine as to say that the bread itself is the body (except sacramentally), or that the body of Christ is corporeally hid under the bread, aud should be adored under the form of bread, or that whosoever receives the signs receives also necessarily the thing itself. [Against the Lutheran theory.] The body of Christ is in heaven at the right hand of the Father (Mark xvi. 19; Heb. viii. 1; xii. 2); and hence we must raise our hearts to heaven.
And yet he is not absent from his people when they celebrate his communion. For as the sun in heaven is efficaciously present with us, so much more is Christ the sun of righteousness with us, not, indeed, corporeally, but spiritually by his enlivening and vivifying operation, even as he in the Last Supper explained that he himself would be present with us (John xiv.-xvi.). Hence we have not a Supper without Christ, but an unbloody and mystical Supper, as universal antiquity called it.
Moreover, the Lord's Supper reminds us that we are members of his body, and should live peaceably with all our brethren, and grow and persevere in holiness of life.
Therefore it is very proper that we should duly prepare ourselves by self-examination in regard to our repentance and faith in Christ (1 Cor. xi. 28).
As to the external celebration, we adhere to the original form, consisting in the annunciation of the Word of God, devout prayers, the Lord's action, and its repetition in breaking bread, and distributing it together with the wine, in eating the body and drinking the blood of our Lord, in grateful remembrance of his death, in thanksgiving, and in holy reunion of the brethren as one body.
We disapprove of the withdrawal of the cup contrary to the express command of our Lord: 'Drink ye all of it' (Matt. xxvi. 27).
The mass--whatever it may have been in ancient times--has been turned from a salutary institution into a vain show, and surrounded with various abuses, which justify its abolition.
Chap. XXII. Of Sacred and Ecclesiastical Assemblies.--It is lawful and right for all men privately to read the Scriptures for edification. At the same time the maintenance of religion demands regular public services. These should be conducted decently, in order, and for edification, in the language understood by the people.
Chap. XXIII. Of Church Prayers, Singing, and Canonical Hours.--Public prayers in sacred assemblies should be made in the vulgar tongue understood by all. Every prayer is to be offered to God alone, through the sole mediation of Christ, not to saints or through them. Churches are at liberty to vary from the usual forms. Prayers are not superstitiously to be confined to particular places or hours. Long and tedious prayers in public assemblies should be avoided. Singing is not indispensable, but lawful and desirable. Canonical hours are not prescribed in the Scriptures, and are unknown to antiquity.