“They are outward and visible signs and pledges of inward and spiritual grace.”—_Ch. Cat._
2. How many are the Christian Sacraments?
“There are (only) two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel: that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.”—25_th_ _Art. Ch. of England_. { 287c}
3. What are the design and use of Sacraments?
The principal design is to convey “spiritual grace” to the soul: and their chief use consists in their being suitable “means” for the purpose.
4. What is the nature of the Christian Sacraments?
“Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in Him.”—25_th_ _Art. Ch. of England_.
5. What do you understand by “spiritual grace,” which you say it is the design of the Sacraments to convey to the soul?
The term grace has many significations in Scripture: but most commonly it either means good-will, or favour (Romans xi. 6; 2 Tim. i. 9; Rom. v. 20); or it signifies the _internal operation of the Holy Spirit_ upon the soul, regenerating, purifying, and sanctifying our nature: and the Sacraments, when duly regarded, are signs and pledges of the one, and effectual means of conveying the other.
6. How, then, are the Sacraments to be regarded?
Simply as _means_ of grace, and not as _necessarily_ conveying any internal benefit to the soul: for no such benefit is, or can be, derived from them, unless the mind be previously prepared to partake of them as God has willed and commanded.
7. What proofs can you adduce that the internal benefits of Sacraments are not absolute, and independent of the previous state of the mind?
_First_, because we have no warrant either in Scripture, or in the reason of things, to think so; and, _secondly_, because, if they were so, no one could eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper to their own condemnation, which St. Paul affirms is the case with those who eat and drink unworthily. (1. Cor. xi. 29. Acts viii. 13, 20–23.)
8. But though this is the case in the Lord’s Supper, are not the benefits of Baptism absolute and unconditional?