tiffs; no longer were they servants but VICARS of Christ; and then political authority was usurped, kings were dethroned, persecution was fostered, and cruelties were practised, which have given to the church, aye the Christian Church, the unenviable distinction of creating the gloom of the world's dark ages.

These facts have forced themselves on my attention during this whole investigation, especially in examining the subject which I am to bring before you this evening: "The Christian Sacraments." The words which I have selected for a text you may find in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the fifteenth chapter at the ninth verse. It is thus rendered in the Douay Bible :

"AND IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME TEACHING DOCTRINES AND COMMANDMENTS OF MEN."

This is the tendency of human nature, to depart from the written law of God by superadding to it. The Scribes and the Pharisees did so; and the Great Teacher reproves them in this chapter. The teachers of the Christian Church have followed in their wake, adding, as we shall now prove, traditional prescriptions to the written Christian law.

I. The first thing which we have this evening to determine is, "WHAT IS A SACRAMENT?"

There is no word in the Greek New Testament which could be rendered sacrament in the sense in which it is now almost universally understood in the Christian Church. The Greek word which the Vulgate sometimes renders sacramentum is μvorúpov which is the same word as the Latin mysterium, and the English mystery, and means something secret, covered, hidden,

concealed. This word μvorpiov occurs twenty-seven times in the New Testament, and it is worthy of remark that the Vulgate, while in nineteen instances it translates it by mysterium, only renders it by sacramentum eight times; in the following passages, among others: 1. Timothy iii. 16, "Great is the mystery (sacramentum) of godliness." Col. i. 27. "To whom God would make known the riches of the glory of this mystery (sacramentum) which is Christ in you the hope of glory." Apoc. xvii. 7. "I will tell thee the mystery (sacramentum) of the woman and of the beast which carrieth her which had the seven heads and ten horns." It is still more worthy of remark that the Rhemish Translators in what is usually called the Douay Testament, and which is a translation from the Vulgate, out of the eight instances in which the word sacramentum occurs in the Vulgate, render it only once by sacrament, preferring in the other seven to retain the Greek word MYSTERY. It is clear, therefore, that the translators of both the Vulgate and Douay versions understood the Latin sacramentum to be very generally used in the sense of mystery. Literally the Latin word means that particular form by which a person binds himself to discharge a duty or to fulfil a promise. It thus signifies in classical authors, a bond or oath; and it is employed to signify especially a military oath.

The Fathers frequently used the word in the sense of mystery, and also with great latitude. They sometimes. called the Christian religion a sacrament; the Trinity was a sacrament; and it is perhaps to be regretted that a word which neither occurs in Scripture in the sense in

which it is now understood, nor has any representative there, should have been adopted by the Christian Church with so restricted a meaning. But, since it has been adopted and defined by the Church generally, we must deal with it accordingly. Let us then examine the Protestant and Roman Catholic definitions of a Sacrament.

In the xxvth Article of the Church of England it is said, "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." In the Catechism of the same Church, I read: 66 Ques. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament? Ans. I mean 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 thereof. are there in a Sacrament? visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace." In the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter xxvi., a Sacrament is thus defined: "I. Sacraments are 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; as also to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the church and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his word.. II. There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or

Ques. How many parts Ans. Two: the outward

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. III. 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." And in the larger Catechism I find the following:-" Ques. What is a sacrament? Ans. A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are within the covenant of grace, the benefits of his mediation; to strengthen and increase their faith, and all other graces; to oblige them to obedience; to testify and cherish their love and communion one with another; and to distinguish them from those that are without." In the larger Catechism of the Wesleyan Methodist Church I find the following, which as you perceive is extracted from the Catechism of the Church of England:-" Ques. What mean you by the word sacrament? Ans. I mean by the word sacrament 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 thereof." But, perhaps, the most comprehensive Protestant definition of sacrament is that which we find in the Heidleburg Catechism: "Sacraments are holy visible signs and seals ordained by God for this end, that he may more fully declare and seal

by them the promise of his Gospel unto us; to wit, that not only unto all believers in general, but unto each of them in particular, he freely giveth remission of sins and life eternal, upon the account of that only sacrifice of Christ which he accomplished upon the cross."

Turn we now to the Roman Catholic definition of a Sacrament. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, part ii., section 10, declares that " a sacrament is a thing subject to the senses, and possessing by the institution of God, at once the power of signifying holiness and righteousness, and of imparting them to him who receives it." In Bishop Butler's Catechism, page 45, we have the following definition :--" Q. What is a sacrament ? A. A visible, that is, an outward sign or action, instituted by Christ, to give grace. Q. Whence have the Sacraments the power of giving grace? A. From the merits of Christ, which they apply to our souls. Rom. vi. 14." The fourth and following Canons of the seventh Session of the Council of Trent give further light on the doctrines of the Church respecting the sacraments:—“Whoever shall affirm, that the sacraments of the new law are not necessary to salvation, but superfluous; or that men may obtain the grace of justification by faith only, without these sacraments, (although it is granted that they are not all necessary to every individual :) let him be accursed. Whoever shall affirm, that the sacraments were instituted solely for the purpose of strengthening our faith: let him be accursed. Whoever shall affirm, that the sacraments of the new law do not contain the grace which they signify; or that they do