ARTICLE XXV. Of the Sacraments. Sacraments ordained of Christ be not onlp Badges or Tokens of Christian Hen's Profession, but rather they be certain sure Witnesses, and effectual Signs of Grace, and God's Will towards us, bu the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him. There are Two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to sap, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confrmation, Penance, Drders, Matrimonp, 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, partly are States of Life allowed in the Scriptures, but pet have not like Nature of Sacraments with Baptism, and the Lord's Supper; for that they have not any visible Sign or Ceremony ordained of God. The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthilp receive the same they have a wholesome Effect or Operation; but thep that receive them unworthilp, purchase to themselves Damnation, as St. Paul saith. THERE is a great diversity between the form of this Article, as it is now settled, and that published by King Edward, which begun in these words: Our Lord Jesus Christ gathered his people into a society by Sacraments, very few in number, most easily to be kept, and of most excellent signification; that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. There is nothing in that edition instead of the paragraph concerning the other five pretended Sacraments. Next comes the paragraph which is here the last, only with the addition of these words after operation : Not as some say, ex opere operato, which terms, as they are XXV. strange and utterly unknown to the Holy Scripture, so do ART. they yield a sense which savoureth of little piety, but of much superstition: and in conclusion, the paragraph comes with which the Article does now begin; so that in all this diversity there is no real difference: for the virtue of the Sacraments being put in the worthy receiving, excludes the doctrine of opus operatum, as formally as if it had expressly been condemned; and the naming the two Sacraments instituted by Christ, is upon the matter the rejecting of all the rest. It was most natural to begin this Article with a description of Sacraments in general. This difference is to be put between Sacraments and other ritual actions; that whereas other rites are badges and distinctions by which the Christians are known, a Sacrament is more than a bare matter of form; and as in the Old Testament, circumcision and propitiatory sacrifices were things of a different nature and order from all the other ritual precepts concerning the cleansings, the distinctions of days, places, and meats. These were indeed precepts given them of God, but they were not federal acts of renewing the covenant, or reconciling themselves to God. By circumcision they received the seal of the covenant, and were brought under the obligation of the whole law: they were by it made debtors to it; and when by their sins they had provoked God's wrath, they were reconciled to him by their sacrifices, with which atonement was made, and so their sins were forgiven them. The nature and end of those was to be federal acts, in the offering of which the Jews kept to their part of the covenant, and in the accepting of which God maintained it on his part; so we see a plain difference between these and a mere rite, which, though commanded, yet must pass only for the badge of a profession, as the doing of it is an act of obedience to a divine law. Now, in the New Dispensation, though our Saviour has eased us of that law of ordinances, that grievous yoke, and those beggarly elements which were laid upon the Jews; yet, since we are still in the body, subject to our senses, and to sensible things, he has appointed some federal actions, to be both the visible stipulations and professions of our Christianity, and the conveyances to us of the blessings of the Gospel. There are two extremes to be avoided in this matter. The one is of the Church of Rome, that teaches, that as some Sacraments imprint a character upon the soul, which they define to be a physical quality, that is, super ART. XXV. natural and spiritual, so they do all carry along with them such a divine virtue, that by the very receiving them (the opus operatum) it is conveyed to the souls of those to whom they are applied, unless they themselves put a bar in the way of it by some mortal sin. In consequence of this, they reckon, that by the Sacraments given to a man in his agonies, though he is very near past all sense, and so cannot join any lively acts of his mind with the Sacraments, yet he is justified; not to mention the common practice of giving extreme unction in the last agony, when no appearance of any sense is left. This 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 securely in sin, trusting to this, that the Sacraments may be given them when they die. The conditions of the New Covenant are, repentance, faith, and obedience; and we look on this as the corrupting the vitals of this religion, when any such means are proposed, by which the main design of the Gospel is quite overthrown. The business of a character is an unintelligible notion. We acknowledge baptism is not to be repeated; but that is not by virtue of a character imprinted in it, but because it being a dedication of the person to God in the Christian religion, what is once so done is to be understood to continue still in that state, till such a person falls into an open apostasy. In case of the repentance of such a person, we finding that the primitive Church did reconcile, but not rebaptize apostates, do imitate that their practice; but not because of this late and unexplicable notion of a character. We look on all sacramental actions as acceptable to God only with regard to the temper and the inward acts of the person to whom they are applied, and cannot consider them as medicines or charms, which work by a virtue of their own, whether the person to whom they are applied cooperates 1 Pet. iii. with them, or not. Baptism is said by St. Peter to save us, not as it is an action that washes us; not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God. And therefore baptism without this profession is no baptism, but seems to be used as a charm; unless it is said, that this answer or profession is implied, whensoever baptism is desired. When a person of age desires baptism, he must make those answers and sponsions, otherwise he is not truly baptized; and though his outward making of them being all that can fall under human cognizance, he who does that must be held to be truly baptized, and all the outward privileges of a bap 21. tized person must belong to him; yet as to the effect of ART. baptism on the soul of him that is baptized, without XXV. doubt that depends upon the sincerity of the professions and yows made by him. The wills of infants are by the law of nature and nations in their parents, and are transferred by them to their sureties; the sponsions that are made on their behalf are considered as made by themselves; but there the outward act is sufficient; for the inward acts of one person cannot be supposed necessary to give the Sacrament its virtue in another. In the Eucharist, by our shewing forth our Lord's death 1Cor. x. 16. till he comes, we are admitted to the communion of his body and blood; to a share in partnership with other Christians in the effects and merits of his death. But the unworthy receiver is guilty of his body and blood, and brings thereby down judgments upon himself; so that to fancy a virtue in Sacraments that works on the person to whom they are applied, without any inward acts accompanying it, and upon his being only passive, is a doctrine of which we find nothing in the Scriptures; which teach us that every thing we do is only accepted of God, with regard to the disposition of mind that he knows us to be in when we go about it. Our prayers and sacrifices are so far from being accepted of God, that they are abomination to him, if they come from wicked and defiled hearts. The making men believe that Sacraments may be effectual to them when they are next to a state of passivity, not capable of any sensible thoughts of their own, is a sure way to raise the credit of the Clergy, and of the Sacrament; but at the same time it will most certainly dispose men to live in sin, hoping that a few rites, which may be easily procured at their death, will clear all at last. And thus we reject, not without great zeal against the fatal effects of this error, all that is said of the opus operatum; the very doing of the Sacrament: we think it looks more like the incantations of Heathenism, than the purity and simplicity of the Christian religion. But the other extreme, that we likewise avoid, is that of sinking the Sacraments so low, as to be mere rites and ceremonies. St. Peter says, Baptism saves us. St. Paul calls it, the laver of regeneration; to which he joins the re- T. iii. 5. newing of the Holy Ghost. Our Saviour saith, He that be- Mark xvi. lieveth, and is baptized, shall be saved; and, Except ye are John iii. born again of water and of the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the 3, 5. kingdom of God. These words have a sense and signification that rises far above a mere ceremony done to keep up order, and to maintain a settled form. The phrase com 16. XXV. ART. munion of the body and blood of Christ, is above the nature of an anniversary, or memorial feast. This opinion we think is very unsuitable to those high expressions; and we do not doubt but that Christ, who instituted those Sacraments, does still accompany them with a particular presence in them, and a blessing upon them; so that we coming to them with minds well prepared, with pure affections and holy resolutions, do certainly receive in and with them particular largesses of the favour and bounty of God. They are not bare and naked remembrances and tokens; but are actuated and animated by a divine blessing that attends upon them. This is what we believe on this head, and these are the grounds upon which we found it. A Sacrament is an institution of Christ, in which some material thing is sanctified by the use of some form or words, in and by which federal acts of this religion do pass on both sides; on ours by stipulations, professions, or vows; and on God's by his secret assistances: by these we are also united to the body of Christ, which is the Church. It must be instituted by Christ; for though ritual matters, that are only the expressions of our duty, may be appointed by the Church; yet federal acts, to which a conveyance of Divine grace is tied, can only be instituted by him who is the Author and Mediator of this New Covenant, and who lays down the rules or conditions of it, and derives the blessings of it by what methods and in what channels he thinks fit. Whatsoever his Apostles settled, was by authority and commission from him; therefore it is not to be denied, but that if they had appointed any sacramental action, that must be reckoned to be of the same authority, and is to be esteemed Christ's institution, as much as if he himself, when on earth, had appointed it. Matter is of the essence of a Sacrament; for words without some material thing, to which they belong, may be of the nature of prayers or vows, but they cannot be Sacraments: receiving a Sacrament is on our part our faith plighted to God in the use of some material substance or other; for in this consists the difference between Sacraments and other acts of worship. The latter are only acts of the mind declared by words or gesture, whereas Sacraments are the application of a material sign, joined with acts of the mind, words, and gestures. With the matter there must be a form, that is, such words joined with it as do appropriate the matter to such an use, and separate it from all other uses, at least in the act of the Sacrament. For in any piece of matter alone, there cannot be a proper suitableness to such an end, as seems to be |