Maclear and Williams on Article XXV: Of the Sacraments

i. Connection. From the Church, its authority, its Ministers, and the language in which its Services should be conducted, it is a natural transition to the Sacraments, and the xxvth Article forms a general introduction to a series of Articles dealing with the subject.

ii. Source. The Article is derived in a great measure from the Ninth of the Thirteen Articles drawn up in 1 5381, and that in its turn was largely taken from the Augsburg Confession of 1530s.

iii. Object. The Title of the Article has remained uniform since 1553, and its object may be described as a threefold one : —

(a) To protest against those, who would minimize

the value and efficacy of the Sacraments ; (i8) To define the number of those Sacraments to

which the term ” Sacraments of the Gospel ”

may properly be applied ; (7) To declare the necessity of right conditions on

the part of the recipients.

iv. Form and Language. The Article in its present form differs considerably from that which it presented in 1553. Then it commenced with a clause3, which has since been altogether withdrawn, and what formed the last clause in 1553 has taken its place. The present second and third

runs thus : ” Docemus quod Sacra- 2 See Hardwick, Hist. Art. pp. 63,

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sunt, non tantum sint nota professionis 3 “Oure Lorde Jesus Christ hathe

inter Christianos, sed magis certa knitte toguether a companie of newe

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gratia, et bona voluntatis Dei erga in numbre, moste easie to bee kepte,

nos, per qua? Deus invisibiliter oper- moste excellent in significatione, as is

atur in nobis, et suam gratiam inuisi- Baptisme, and the Lordes Supper. ”

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susceperimus ; quodque per ea exci- 1859. tatur et confirmatur fides in his qui

clauses were introduced for the first time in 1563, while the fourth is a modification of what formed the second clause of the draft of 1553 \

v. The Word Sacrament, from the Latin Sacra- mentum, has passed through three stages of meaning, according to its (1) Classical, (2) Ecclesiastical, and (3) Later usage : —

(a) Its Classical Usage: —

In Classical Latin the word meant

(1) The sum of money deposited with a judge2 as a sign or pledge that the parties in a suit would go on with it3;

(2) The oath of the newly-enlisted soldier that he would be loyal to his commander4;

(3) An oath or compact generally5. 08) Its Ecclesiastical Use: —

(1) The earliest application of the word to anything Christian occurs in the celebrated letter of the younger Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, where he says of the Christians that they were wont

1 In this clause we further note the important omission, after the statement that Sacraments “in suche only, as worthelie receiue the same, haue an wholesome effecte, and operacione,” of the words, “and yet not that of the woorke wrought, as some men speake, whiche worde, as it is straunge and vnknowen to holie Scripture : So it engendereth no Godlie, but a verie supers! icious sense.”

2 ” Ea pecunia, qua; in judicium venit in litibus, sacrament ‘urn a sacro.” Varro, L. L. v. 36.

3 It was called Sacramentum either because (1) the money was deposited in a sacred place, Cic. in Verrem, II. i. 9, 26 ; or (ii) because the loser of

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4 Comp. Livy, vii. ir, “Dictator… omnes juniores, nullo detrectante militiam, Sacramento adegit ” ; Caesar, Bell. Civ. i. 23, “Milites Domitianos sacramentum apud se dicere jubet.” Comp. also Tac. Hist. i. 76. This oath was taken upon the “signa militaria” or consecrated “signs,” which surmounted each regimental banner.

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to meet on a certain fixed day before sunrise, to sing hymns to Christ, and to bind themselves by a Sacrament not to commit any sort of wickedness1.

(2) In the earlier Latin versions of the New Testament it was used as a translation of the Greek word Mvarr/piov or Mystery. Thus in 1 Cor. ii. 7, for we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the Old Latin Version had ” dicimus Dei sapientiam in Sacramento ” ; and in 1 Cor. xiii. 2, where the Apostle says though I know all mysteries, it had “si scio omnia sacramenta’*.” (7) Later Usage:

Hence the word came to be applied in a wide and general sense to anything whatsoever that could be called a mystery, or sacred symbol. Thus “revealed truths” are spoken of as Sacraments, and we find such expressions as “the Sacrament of the Trinity3,” “the Sacrament of the Incarnation4,” “the Sacra- ment of the Passion and Resurrection5.” Thus, again, the touching the catechumen with spittle6, the salt given to catechumens7, the Creed taught to catechumens8, the honey and milk given after

1 “Seque sacnimento non in scelus 3 Isid. Hisp. de Scrip. Eccl. 27, i. aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne 4, 6.

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speaking of the Christian’s Baptismal i. 27.

vow, says that “he is called to the 7 The Council of Carthage, A.D.

warfare of the living God, and makes 397, ordered that at Eastertide no

answer to the words of theSacrament.” “Sacrament” should be ministered

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2 Again in Rom. xvi. 25 we have Can. 5. Tertullian also uses the for Kara djro/cdXtn/‘ic pvcrT-qplov, “in word ” Sacramentum ” to denote re- revelatione sacramenti” ; and in Eph. ligion in general, Adv. Marc. v. 18.

i. 9, for t6 iivaT-qpiov toO 0e\77/iaTos 8 Rabanus Maurus, de Instil. Cleri,

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Baptism1 to catechumens, all these, as well as Bap- tism2 and the Holy Eucharist3 itself, were spoken of as Sacraments. Hence, owing to the almost uni- versal application of the term, we have the simple definition of a Sacrament as given by S. Augustine, “a Sacrament is a sign of a holy thing*,” or, as the Homily5 expresses it, ” anything whereby a holy thing is signified.” vi. Sacraments as denned in the Article. This examination of the word “Sacrament” itself prepares us for what is said of Sacraments in the Article. It treats of them (i) negatively and (ii) positively, and lays down (i) what they are not, and (ii) what they are : (a) Negatively : —

“Sacraments,” it says, “be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession.” This was the teaching of men, who like the followers of the Zwinglian school6 and the Anabaptists7, minimized their efficacy and regarded them as mere empty rites, neither spiritual in themselves, nor working

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applies the word Sacrament to the bus supervacanea judicabant, aut

Trinity, and calls the Lord’s Prayer saltern non necessaria esse, et exiguam

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anything spiritual in us. They professed to look upon them as external acts, which simply betokened a profession of the Christian faith, whereby the Christian man rather does something himself, than receives aught from these sacred signs. (/3) Positively ;—

In opposition to this teaching the Article lays it

down that Sacraments are :

(i) “Certain sure1 witnesses, and

(ii) ” Effectual signs2 of grace, and God’s good will towards us,

(iii) ” By the which He

(a) ” Doth work invisibly in us, and (/;) ” Doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in Him.” Herein the language of the Article closely approximates to that of the Church Catechism, where a Sacrament is de- fined to be ” an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof3”.

as ” qusedam testimonia,” but”certa 3 “Signum externum et visibile

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~<ig, indubitable; comp. tanquam instrumentum per quod earn

” Certain hastam,” Virg. sEn. xi. 767; recipimus, et pignus quod earn nobis

” certa sagitta,” Hor. Od. i. 12, 23; confirmet.” The language alike of

“eerla fides segetis,” Hor. Od. iii. 16, the Catechism and the Article ex-

30. presses in the plainest manner the

2 ” Efficacia signa,” not merely objective view of the Sacraments,

“signa.” “A Sacrament thus not only They regard them as Divine Gifts

typifies, it conveys. It is not a bare which, external to the subjective atti-

sign, but an effectual sign, a sign that tude of the recipient, are what they

carries its effect along with it. It is the are whether or not they are believed

means whereby we receive the same to be such. ” Since the glorification

grace, of which it is the outward of Christ, and the outpouring of His

visible sign.” See Bp Forbes on the Spirit, we are presented with signs.

vii. Material things have in all ages been used by God as signs and pledges. Thus

(i) The Rainbow was a sign to Noah that the world would no more be destroyed by a flood (Gen. ix. 12—17);

(ii) Circumcision was a sign and pledge to Abraham of the Covenant between God and himself (Gen. xvii. 9 — 14);

(iii) The Miracles Moses was bidden to perform be- fore Pharaoh were signs and pledges of his Divine Mission (Ex. iv. 1 — 9);

(iv) The Fleece, wet while the ground around was dry, and dry while the ground around was wet, was a sign and pledge to Gideon that the Lord would give him victory in the battle against the Midianites (Judg. vi. 36 — 40).

viii. Material things, again, have been used by God as supernatural means of Grace. Thus

(i) When the Israelites were dying in the desert from the bites of the fiery serpents, God bade Moses set up a brazen serpent on a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived (Num. xxi. 6 — 9);

(ii) When Naaman, afflicted with leprosy, came to Elisha, he was bidden to go and dip himself seven times in the Jordan, and he went, and his flesh came again like ttnto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2 Kings v. 10 — 14);

which not only speak of spiritual not have devised what the Article calls

mysteries, but convey the things which ’ only badges or tokens of Christian

they speak of… If the Sacraments men’s profession.’ ” Mason, Faith of

were what Zwingli made them, they the Gospel, pp. 259 sqq. Ed. 1888. would not be Christian. Christ could

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(iii) When our Lord saw a man blind from his birth, and would heal him, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay1, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing (John ix. 6, 7);

(iv) Again, when one that was deaf and had an im- pediment in his speech was brought unto Him, He took him aside from the multitude privately, a»d put His fingers into his cars, and He spat, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saitli unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain (Mark vii. 31— 35)2-

Now in Sacraments ordained by Christ all these methods of using material things are combined. For

/ % t-i […] of Grace, and

(1) They are sure witnesses3 (tcstimonia)\ ^

\ God s good will

(2) They are ” effectual1 signs ” (signa) J towards us>

1 ‘EWxp’”^” auTOu rhv irrfKov iirl tous 6<p0a\fiovs = He spread the clay thereof upon his eyes. Physicians had applied saliva jejuna as a remedy for post-natal blindness, but congenital blindness had always been regarded as incurable, and no instance to the contrary had ever been heard of. The Great Physician, however, teaches us that ordinary means can accomplish extraordinary results at His will. Comp. Vespasian’s reputed miracle, Tac. Hist. iv. 81 ; Sueton. Vesp. 5.

3 In this miracle the use of outward signs is most diversified. Our Lord (1) takes the man aside; (2) He puts His fingers into his ears ; (3) He touches his tongue with the moisture

of His mouth ; (4) He looks up to heaven ; (5) He sighs ; (6| He speaks the potent word Ephphatha.

4 ” It was the glory of the Christian as compared with the Jewish Church, that in her fold shadows were trans- muted to substance, symbols to means of grace, types to instruments of salva- tion, rituals to channels of higher powers. What was before a pious usage — an intimation, a memento, a suggestion only — was now become the medium of Divine power, and an in-

(3) They are ” pledges (pignord) of His love1”;

(4) They are appointed means {media), “by the which

He doth work invisibly in us2.”

ix. The number of the Sacraments of the Gospel.

Having dealt with the nature of the Sacraments, the Article proceeds to deal with the number of such as can properly be called ” Sacraments of the Gospel.” The word Sacrament, as we have seen, is capable of a very wide application to any visible sign that sets out to the eyes and other outward senses the inward working of the Grace of God. But in the present Article the word is not taken in this wide sense. It is restricted here, as in the Church Catechism, to such Sacraments as were ordained by Christ our Lord3. In the Gospels we find no other Sacraments expressly ordained by Christ Himself, save Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. These are the chief, the principal, the special Sacraments of our salvation4.

x. The Five so-called Sacraments. As regards the other five commonly called Sacraments, the Article now

strumentof sanctification.” Dollinger, First Age of the Church, ii. p. 36. Ed. 1877.

graces along with the faithful per- formance of prescribed ceremonies, but to make the ceremonies quite literally the means of grace, and to charge with His own fulness the thing which His Church uses or does.” Mason’s Faith of the Gospel, p. 262, Ed. 1888.

3 Twice the limiting words are introduced, “Sacramenta a Christo instituta”; “Duo a Christo Domino nostro in Evangelio instituta.”

4 “Principalia.proecipua, eximiasa- lutis nostra? sacramenta,” Bellarmine, de Missa. “The two Sacraments of the Gospel, as they may be emphatic- ally termed, are the instruments of the inward life, according to our Lord’s declaration that Baptism is a new birth, and that in the Eucharist we have the living Bread.” Newman, On Justification, Lect. vi.

proceeds to speak of them with decision. The number of the Sacraments was first fixed at seven in the twelfth century1, and then it was received into the general teaching of the Church, not as a tradition coming down from the Apostles and the earliest times, but as the result of theological speculation. The Article does not deny that these other five, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matri- mony, and Extreme Unction, are holy ordinances, which, in the wider sense of the word, may be called ” Sacraments” or ” Mysteries2.” What it does deny is that they are to be counted for “Sacraments of the Gospel3” of like nature with Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. This it does on the ground that ” they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God4.” Thus

(i) Confirmation possesses an outward and visible sign, the laying on of hands, but there is no record of its actual institution by Christ Himself;

(ii) Penance, again, including Confession and Abso- lution, has annexed to it the inward Grace of the Forgiveness of Sins, but it lacks any out- ward sign instituted5 and attached to it by Divine authority ;

3 Even Alexander of Hales, though he adopted the number Seven, ad- mitted that Baptism and the Holy Eucharist alone were instituted by our Lord Himself, and S. Thomas Aquinas agrees with other theologians in regarding these two Sacraments as ” potissima Sacramenta.” See Sum- ma, pt. iii. qu. 62.

6 The Homily on Common Prayer and Sacraments expressly says that Absolution has the inward grace of “the forgiveness of sins,” only not by express words of the New Testament annexed and tied to the visible sign. We have traces of Penance in the Sub- Apostolic Age in the Didache, iv. 14, ‘Ev ckkXtjc/p i$Ofio\oyri<nri to. TrapawTw/xaTd aov, and xiv. I, cvxa- piarriffaTe it poe$ofio\oyri<safuv(n to. ra- pa.TrTiina.Ta vji&v.

(iii) Orders is the name given to the rite whereby men are raised to the Clerical State. Both the outward sign and the inward gift are named by S. Paul, when he bids Timothy stir up the gift of God, which is in him through the laying on of the Apostle’s hands (2 Tim. i. 6)\ But though it is a “state of life allowed in the Scriptures,” we have no account of any express institution by Christ Himself of imposition of hands as its outward sign ;

(iv) Marriage is a ” state of life allowed in the Scriptures2,” but it is not of universal obliga- tion, and, though it is a “mystery,” it pos- sesses no outward sign expressly ordained by God or Christ3 ;

(v) Extreme Unction of the sick, when all hope of recovery is gone, and death is imminent, grew up out of “the corrupt following” or imitation of the Apostles, who anointed the sick with oil4, with a view to their recovery as well

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2 The words “quae partim…in scripturis quidem probati” are not intended to divide exactly the five Sacraments in question, but simply to suggest in general terms how they came to be what in actual use they were when the Article was written.

3 S. Paul says of marriage rd fiv- OT-fipwv tovto ixeya iariv, Eph. v. 32. The Apostle, however, is directly applying the term fivar-qpiov not to marriage, but rather to the mystical union betwixt Christ and His Church, of which the holy estate of Matrimony is a figure.

4 Anointing with oil for medicinal purposes played an important part in early times, especially in the East. The prophet Isaiah alludes to its use as an ointment for mollifying wounds (Isai. i. 6) ; the good Samaritan is described as pouring oil and wine on the wounds of the man who fell among thieves (Luke x. 34) ; the Apostles are expressly recorded to have employed it for the purpose of healing (Mark vi. 13); and we find its Sacramental use in S. James v. 14 where we read, Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord ; and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he have committed any sins, it shall be

M.

physical as spiritual, but they are nowhere recorded to have resorted to this Unction only when the sick lay in extremis1. Thus it is clear that however properly these five Rites may be regarded as ” Sacramental,” they cannot by any possibility be placed on the same footing with the two ” Sacraments of the Gospel,” or regarded as of a nature identical with theirs2.

xi. The Right Use of the Sacraments. The last paragraph of the Article lays it down that the purpose of Christ in ordaining the Sacraments was not that they should be “gazed upon” or “carried about.” The words have reference to the procession of the Host and attendant ceremonies in the Latin Church, especially on Corpus Christi Day3. For the importance attached by the popular estimate of the time to such usages, whatever may be their ecclesiastical authority, there is no warrant in Scrip- ture, or in the custom of the Primitive Church. The Article states that on the contrary Sacraments were ordained that “we should duly use them,” and that in

forgiven hint. Here the sick man is evidently contemplated as likely to recover, and prayer and Unction are to be used as a means towards that recovery, as well as towards his spiritual aid. Hence in the Greek Church Unction is so used now, and in the First Prayer Book of EdwardVI. it was allowed if the sick man should desire it.

1 The Article does not intend to depreciate Holy Unction of the Sick, but, first, to assign to it its proper posi- tion as compared with the ” potissima sacramenta,” and, next, to indicate that its contemporary use was not in strict accordance with its original institution. With regard to such Unction it may be observed : (i) that, although suggested by common East-

ern usage, it was actually distinct from the gift of healing, which was not confined to the Elders, and had its own special accompanying sign, the laying on of hands (Mark xvi. 18); (ii) that its special accompaniment was prayer, and its result (provided there were faith and repentance) con- solation and forgiveness, sometimes physical recovery or relief. Dollinger, First Age of the Church, ii. 42, sqq. E.J. Ed. 1877.

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3 Instituted by Pope Urban IV., A.D. 1264, and Pope Clement V., A.D. 13II.

such only as “worthily receive them have they a whole- some effect or operation.” This is intended as a caution against the doctrine that Sacraments justify mechani- cally, so to speak, through the mere performance of them, irrespective of the faith of the recipient1. This the Article repudiates, and quotes in corroboration the stern words of S. Paul concerning profane recipients of the Holy Eucharist in the Church of Corinth. The Apostle writes respecting the disorderly mode of reception to which they were addicted : he that eatetJi and drinketh, catetk and drinketh judgement* unto himself, if lie discern not the Body (1 Cor. xi. 29), and he goes on to say that this was proved by the fact that many of the members of the Church were weak and sickly, and not a few had slept the sleep of death. S. Paul thus clearly contemplates a proper and improper mode of approaching the Holy Sacrament, and the legitimate induction from his words supports the statement of the Article as to the necessity of a worthy reception of all holy mysteries, if they are to exercise ” a wholesome effect or operation.”

1 S. Augustine, balancing with sound judgment the objective and the subjective, distinguishes in a Sacra- ment (i) The Sacramenlum or Material Sign ; (ii) The Res Sacramenti, or Spiritual Grace; (iii) The Virtus Sacramenti, or “wholesome effect or operation.” The two former have their objective reality quite indepen- dently of the recipient. But the Vir- tus Sacramenti, or “salutary effect,” is wrought out only in such as worthily receive this holy mystery. In other words while a Sacrament confers Grace ex opere operato, i.e. by virtue of the Gift of God, who originates

it, it has not its salutary effect ex opere operato, for that effect depends (in part), not upon mere mechanical recep- tion, but upon human moral correspon- dence. Hence S. Paul exhorts the Corinthians that they receive not the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. vi. 1), and in another place testifies that God’s grace which was bestowed upon him was not found in vain (1 Cor. xv. 10).

2 Mtj SiaKplvoiv tA au>na (1 Cor. xi. 29) = if he discern not, or discriminate not, the Body, see R.V. in loc. and margin.

Notes

• See above, p. 12. This Article eis utuntur.” De Sacramentorum Usu.
• John the Deacon says, “baptizatis 5 Homily of Common Prayer and …hoc genus sacramenti offertur.” Sacraments, pp. 353, 354. Cambridge
• “Sacramenta, id est, sacra signa.” Baptismo nisi quod sit Christianorum Contra Advers. Legis et Proph., Lib. nota, qua discernuntur ab gentibus, »• 33. or> as he defines it elsewhere, more civili.” Rogers on the Articles, “Signum rei sacroe.” p. 246, «.
• They are described not merely Articles, p. 441.
• “They are witnesses of Grace, or, in stricter theological language, they signify Grace. They are types of that holiness and righteousness which they convey.” Bp Forbes, p. 440.
• Compare the language of the Exhortation in the Communion Ser- vice, ” He hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of His love.” “A pledge to assure us of the inward and spiritual grace given to us, is a necessary part of the definition of aSacrament.” Bp Forbes, p. 441.
• ” All grace flows from the hu- manity of Christ, and the Sacraments are main channels, whereby that grace flows into the soul. Christ is the chief and principal worker in all Sacraments, as a function of His everlasting Priesthood. They work in us by means of the institution of Christ.” Ibid, p. 442. “It pleases Christ, not merely to give covenanted
• The number was specially deter- mined through the influence of Peter Lombard, but nothing was absolutely decided till the time of Bonaventura and S. Thomas Aquinas. See Hagen- bach, Hist. Doct. ii. pp. 320, 3*1.
• See the Eighth Article of the Second Bonn Conference, p. 20, and the observations upon it of the late Bishop of Winchester, p. 21.
• “If a Sacrament must be defined to be ‘an outward sign’ ordained by God or Christ, then only Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are in this sense ‘Sacraments’.” Bp Forbes on the Articles, pp. 449, 450.