administration of an external rite by a mortal man! That this was not merely the doctrine of the church of Rome in ages long passed, but is still the faith of that church in the present day, admits of undeniable proof. The grace, said to be conferred by sacraments, is not a right merely to the external privileges of the Christian church, but is, (as the Douay Catechism teaches, the use of which is ordered" by authority,") "a supernatural gift of the divine bounty, freely bestowed on us for our sanctification and salvation." The Roman Catholic Bishop Hayes insists on the same doctrine of the supernatural efficacy of sacraments. "A sacrament," he says, "is an outward sensible action, or sacred sign, ordained by Jesus Christ, as a sure and certain means to bring grace to our souls." Thus, the members of that church are taught to rely for grace on the efficacy of sacraments, instead of looking to God to work that grace in them, which is essential to salvation; thus, the necessity of the atoning merits of the Saviour, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, are superseded by the doctrines and ordinances of men. The dying sinner relies on the efficacy of sacraments administered to him in his last agonies, and not on the merits of Christ, to obtain the remission of his sins, and a safe viaticum to everlasting blessedness! "This," says Bishop Burnett, "we reckon a doctrine that is not only without all foundation in Scripture, but that tends to destroy all religion, and

to make men live on in security in sin, trusting to this, that the sacraments may be given them when they die."

The church of England, judging her doctrines by her offices, and especially by what she declares more formally in her articles, maintains the true medium between the Popish doctrine of the inherent efficacy of sacraments, and the unscriptural opinions of others, who hold that sacraments are only signs intended to represent and teach spiritual mysteries. The latter opinion, which extensively prevails, if less dangerous, is not less unscriptural than the former. The opinion that sacraments are only "naked and bare signs," is no where countenanced in the word of God: that " they are," as the church of England teaches, "certain sure witnesses and effectual signs of grace, and God's good-will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us," is in accordance with sacred writ, and the ancient faith of the purest branches of the reformed church. In the confession of the faith of the Scotch reformers, they say "These sacraments, now instituted of God, not only to make a visible difference betwixt his people, and those that were without his league, but also to exercise the faith of his children, and by participation of the same sacraments, to seal in their hearts the assurance of his promise, and of that most blessed conjunction, union and society, which the elect have with their head, Christ Jesus. And

thus we utterly condemn the vanity of those that affirm sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs: no, we assuredly believe, that by baptism we are ingrafted in Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of his justice, whereby our sins are covered and remitted; and, also, that in the supper rightly used, Christ Jesus is joined with us, that he becometh very nourishment and food to our souls," &c. The Westminster Confession of Faith, after declaring sacraments to be "holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God to represent Christ and his benefits, and to confirm our interest in him, adds-" There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them, neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it, but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorising the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers." The French churches, in their Confession of Faith, presented to King Charles IX., A. D. 1561, say-" We confess these exterior signs (the sacraments) to be of such a kind as that God through them, by the power of his Holy Spirit, worketh, and that nothing

is fruitlessly signified to us therein." The Belgic Confession, which expresses the faith of those churches which suffered most severely for the gospel in Flanders, Artois, Hainault, &c. says-"Sacraments are signs and visible symbols of inward and invisible things, through which, as through means, God himself doth act in us by the power of his Holy Spirit. Therefore those signs are by no means vain and empty, or instituted to deceive or frustrate us," &c.

Such views as these of the design and efficacy of the sacraments, harmonising as they do with the doctrine of the church of England, as expressed in her articles, are directly opposed to an opinion which now extensively prevails, especially among those who have separated from the church of England, that sacraments are mere naked and teaching signs to avoid the error of Popery on the one hand, they have run into the opposite error in denying the true efficacy and blessing of the divine institutions; thus, the sacraments are degraded, and the benefits which God has, by his appointment and promise, connected with the right use of them, are lost.

The remarks of the judicious Hooker on this subject are entitled to serious consideration. "Christ and his Holy Spirit, with all their blessed effects, though entering into the soul of man-we are not able to apprehend or express how-do, notwithstanding, give notice of the times when they

use

to make their access, because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those blessings which are incomprehensible. Seeing, therefore, that grace is a consequent of sacraments, a thing which accompanieth them as their end, a benefit which they have received from God himself, the author of sacraments, and not from any other natural or supernatural quality in them; it may be hereby both understood, that sacraments are necessary, and that the manner of their necessity to life supernatural, is not in all respects as food unto natural life, because they contain in themselves no vital force or efficacy; they are not physical, but moral instruments of salvation, duties of service and worship, which, unless we perform as the author of grace requireth, they are unprofitable; for, all receive not the grace of God, which receive the sacraments of his grace. Neither is it ordinarily his will to bestow the grace of sacraments on any but by the sacraments, which grace also, they that receive by sacraments, or with sacraments, receive it FROM HIM, and NOT FROM

THEM.

For of sacraments, the very same is true which Solomon's wisdom observeth in the brazen serpent He that turned towards it was not healed by the thing he saw, but by thee, O Saviour of all.' This is, therefore, the necessity of sacraments. That saving grace which Christ originally is, or hath for the general good of his whole church, by sacraments he severally deriveth into every