LECTURE V.

ON THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH..
OF ROME.*

THE term sacrament, though not of scriptural authority, is applied to those ordinances of our holy religion, which are of a symbolical nature; in the administration of which "outward and visible signs" are employed to represent some "inward and spiritual grace;" and which are conceived to lay those who observe them, under voluntary and special obligations to universal obedience. "A sacrament," according to the canons of the Council of Trent, "is the symbol "of a sacred thing, and the visible form of an "invisible grace." In the application of the term thus defined, to the ordinances of Baptism and the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper, there is no controversy between us: but on the general subject of the sacraments, there are two important

* I am aware that the preceding lecture, as it respects the faith of the Roman Church concerning one of the sacraments, might have been included under this general discussion: but the importance of the subject, and its prominence in the creed of that Church, obviously demanded the appropriation of an entire and separate discourse.

Commune hoc quidem est Eucharistiæ cum cæteris sacramentis, symbolum esse rei sacræ et invisibilis gratiæ, formam visibilem. Sess. xiii, c. iii.

grounds of objection, which, were there no other reasons of secession, would justify and demand our separation from the Church of Rome. We accuse that Church of corrupting those sacramental ordinances which are confessedly of divine institution; and of adding to their number, such as are altogether unauthorised by the word of God.

I. In the first place, the Church of Rome has corrupted the sacraments of divine institution. In the administration of rites, which derive their authority and obligation from the will of Jesus Christ, the Supreme Legislator of the Church, it is of the highest importance to ascertain the meaning of his own injunctions; to bring to the interpretation of that meaning, only those principles which his truth supplies; to adhere as far as existing circumstances allow to the letter of his commands; and above all, to consider the spirit and practical design of all his appointments. We are not at liberty to alter and innovate, according to our inclinations and prejudices, when it can be clearly ascertained, what was the will and intention of our Lord. And it may be confidently asserted, that all that is essential to the acceptable observance of any sacred rite, may be ascertained from the language of the institute itself, and the inspired record of its observance in the apostolic Churches.

It should also be remembered that the Apostles, the inspired guides of the first Churches, have uniformly represented the Christian dispensation as distinguished from the Mosaic Economy by the simplicity of its institutions. St. Paul

especially, discovers the greatest anxiety and solicitude on this subject; and employs the language of strong remonstrance and dissuasion, for the very purpose of counteracting the natural ten

dency of the Jewish and Gentile converts to observe some parts of the abolished ceremonial of the former dispensation. "After ye have known "God, or rather are known of God, how turn

66

66

ye again to the weak and beggarly elements "whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? "Ye observe days and months and times and "years-I am afraid of you, lest I have bestow"ed upon you labour in vain." "If ye be dead "with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why are ye subject to ordinances (touch not"taste not-handle not which are all to perish "with the using) after the commandments and "doctrines of men?" (Gal. iv. 9, 11. Col. ii. 20, 22.) It is not so much the particular subject of these protests, as the principle involved in them, which I conceive deserves our special attention. They are directly opposed to what was characteristic of the legal economy-its numerous and complicated ceremonies. Whatever local and temporary objects might be accomplished by such ceremonies, their obligation had expired :-another order of things had commenced-a "kingdom not of this world,"-a "pure and undefiled religion”—an intellectual and spiritual dispensation-one that was pre-eminently a "reasonable service," in all its requirements and institutions. The law was composed of shadows and symbols and types; but the gospel exhibits facts and doctrines. It contains indeed an explicit account of two ordinances of a symbolical nature; but how contrasted with the minuteness and detail of the Mosaic ceremonies are the accounts of these institutions. There is a generality-a comprehensiveness—a latitude of meaning in the one that we might expect to find in the institution of rites, designed to be of universal obligation and every where practicable. Had the language

employed to those minute specifications which distinguished the legal code, it might have suited one particular class or nation, but it might have been incapable of application to the circumstances of other nations. And where the great "author of our faith" has made no requisitions, and imposed no ceremonies, shall we bow to human authority and forsake Apostolic precedent? When Jesus Christ appointed the Eucharist, he commanded his disciples to "break bread and eat it, and to drink wine in remembrance of him," to "shew forth his death till he should come," the second time, to accomplish all the purposes of his mercy. I need not remind you of the manner in which this sacred rite has been corrupted by the pompous ceremonies and fascinating splendour of the Sacrifice of the Mass. The subject has already occupied your attention: and you have beheld the awful process of mysterious iniquity, gradually corrupting the simplicity and intention of that institution, till with senseless adoration, the Church of Rome has taught her children to bow before the corruptible elements of consecrated bread and wine, and to believe that by their incantations they have been converted into the very body and blood, soul and divinity of the incarnate Saviour.

Enough has been said in a preceding discourse to prove the corruptions of the Eucharist; and in a similar manner, though not to the same extent, they have impaired the simplicity and purity of the baptismal rite. This has been done, by adding to it, ceremonies for which there is no authority in the Christian revelation; and by unscriptural representations of its efficacy.

The institution of sponsorship, the exorcising rites before the act of baptising commences, the use of salt and oil, and saliva in the baptism

itself, and various other absurd unmeaning ceremonies, are employed in the administration of this ordinance.* It is impossible to read their own accounts, of such a service without perceiving its direct and obvious contrast to the simpli city of an apostolic administration. When Philip baptised the Eunuch, and when the Jailer of Philippi and his household were baptised, the facility with which the rite was performed, and the total absence of all the ridiculous applications which the Roman rubric requires, must instantly strike a reflecting mind, as singularly opposed to their prolonged and complicated ceremonies.

#

"The following," says Dr. Hurd, in his Rites and Cere"monies, &c. "is as nearly as possible, the form used in baptism in the Church of Rome. The priest first asks the sponsors what sex the child is of-whether they are its true 66 god-fathers and god-mothers-if they are resolved to live and "die in the " true Catholic faith-and what name they intend to

66

give it? After an exhortation, he calls the child by the name given "it, and asks, What dost thou demand of the Church? To which the god-father answers, 'faith.'-After several other inquiries, the priest breathes three times upon the child's face, "saying, 'Come out of this child, thou evil spirit, and make room for the Holy Ghost.' This being done, he makes the sign of the cross on the child's forehead, and afterwards on "his breast, repeating at the same time, Receive the sign of "the cross on thy forehead, and in thine heart.'-He then "blesses the salt, if it was not blessed before; which being "done, he takes a little of it, and puts it into the child's mouth,

sayingReceive the salt of wisdom.' After this, he puts his "thumb in his mouth and having dipped it in spittle, rubs it "over the mouth of the child. The next thing is to strip the "child naked on the upper part of his body, while the priest "prepares the holy oil. The god-fathers and god-mothers hold the child over the font, with the face towards the east.

After

66 some questions, the priest pours the water thrice on the child's "head, in the form of a cross, mentioning at each time one of "the persons of the Trinity. He then anoints the top of the “child's head in the form of a cross, with the sacred oil, and puts over it a piece of white linen, to denote that it is cleansed "from all impurities.”—Hurd's Rites and Ceremonies. Page 255—6.

68

M