ARTICLE XXV

effectum qui vero indigne percipiunt, damnationem (ut inquit Paulus) sibi ipsis acquirunt.

such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as S. Paul saith.

THIS Article has undergone considerable alteration since the publication of the series of 1553. In that year it began with a quotation from S. Augustine: "Our Lord Jesus Christ hath knit together a company of new people, with sacraments most few in number, most easy to be kept, most excellent in signification, as is Baptism, and the Lord's Supper." Then followed the last paragraph of our present Article, with the insertion (after the words "wholesome effect or operation") of the following words: "and yet not that of the work wrought, as some men speak, which word, as it is strange and unknown to Holy Scripture: so it engendereth no godly, but a very superstitious sense." After this paragraph there stood what is now the first clause, with which the whole Article was concluded. In 1563 it was brought into the form in which it now stands by means of the following alterations: (1) The quotation from S. Augustine and the clause condemning the theory of grace ex opere operato were omitted; (2) the order of the two main paragraphs was reversed; and (3) between them two fresh paragraphs were inserted on (a) the number of sacraments ordained

1 Cf. Augustine, Epist. liv.: "Sacramentis numero paucissimis, observatione facillimis, significatione præstantissimis, societatem novi populi colligavit, sicuti est Baptismus Trinitatis nomine consecratus, communicatio Corporis et Sanguinis Ipsius; et si quid aliud in Scripturis Canonicis commendatur." Cf. also De Doctr. Christiana, III. c. ix.

'Idque non ex opere (ut quidam loquuntur) operato; quæ vox ut peregrina est et sacris literis ignota, sic parit sensum minime pium, sed admodum superstitiosum."

by Christ, and (b) the five rites "commonly called Sacraments." 1

The origin of what now stands as the first clause may be found in the Confession of Augsburg, from which it was taken through the medium of the thirteen Articles of 1538, where we read: "Docemus, quod Sacramenta quæ per verbum Dei instituta sunt, non tantum sint notæ professionis inter Christianos, sed magis certa quædam testimonia et efficacia signa gratiæ et bonæ voluntatis Dei erga nos, per quæ Deus invisibiliter operatur in nobis, et suam gratiam in nos invisibiliter diffundit, siquidem ea rite susceperimus; quodque per ea excitatur et confirmatur fides in his qui eis utuntur. Porro docemus, quod ita utendum sit sacramentis, ut in adultis, præter veram contritionem, necessario etiam debeat accedere fides, quæ credat præsentibus promissionibus, quæ per sacramenta ostenduntur, exhibentur, et præstantur. Neque enim in illis verum est, quod quidam dicunt, sacramenta conferre gratiam ex opere operato sine bono motu utentis, nam in ratione utentibus necessarium est, ut fides etiam utentis accedat, per quam credat illis promissionibus, et accipiat res promissas, quæ per sacramenta conferuntur." 3 A comparison of this with the corresponding passage in the Confession of Augsburg shows the stronger position on the reality of sacramental grace which the Anglican 1 The addition may perhaps have been suggested by the fact that the Confession of Würtemberg contained a long section on the subject.

Conf. Augustana, art. xiii.: "De usu Sacramentorum. De usu Sacramentorum docent, quod sacramenta instituta sint, non modo ut sint notæ professionis inter homines, sed magis ut sint signa et testimonia voluntatis Dei erga nos, ad excitandam et confirmandam fidem in his qui utuntur proposita. Itaque utendum est sacramentis, ita ut fides accedat, quæ credat promissionibus, quæ per sacramenta exhibentur et ostenduntur. Damnant igitur illos, qui docent, quod sacramenta ex opere operato justificent, nec docent fidem requiri in usu sacramentorum, quæ credat remitti peccata." * See Hardwick, p. 270.

divines maintained. There is nothing in the purely Lutheran document answering to the "efficacia signa gratiæ," which has been transferred from this unfinished series to our own Article.

The object of the Article is (1) to condemn the inadequate views of sacraments held by the Anabaptists, and to state their true position; (2) to distinguish between the two "Sacraments of the Gospel" and the other five "commonly called Sacraments"; and (3) to insist upon the necessity of a right disposition on the part of the recipients of them. It consists of four paragraphs, treating respectively of the following subjects, which shall be here considered separately:

1. The description of sacraments ordained of Christ. 2. The number of such sacraments.

3. The five rites "commonly called Sacraments." 4. The use of sacraments.

I. The Description of Sacraments ordained of Christ.

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 goodwill 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.

Each phrase in this description requires careful consideration. Sacraments ordained of Christ are

(a) Badges or tokens of Christian men's profession (notæ professionis Christianorum). This was the regular phrase descriptive of sacraments among the Zwinglians,1 and adopted also by the Anabaptists,

1 The language of Zwingli himself sometimes gave to sacraments the lowest position possible. In the Ratio fidei he says boldly: "Credo,

who regarded the Eucharist and baptism as nothing more than such tokens. So we read in Archbishop Hermann's Simplex ac pia deliberatio (which was translated into English in 1547), that they "withdrawe from the sacramentes, which they wil to be nothyng els than outward sygnes of our profession and felowship, as the badges of capitaines be in warre; thei deni that they be workes and ceremonies instituted of God for this purpose; that in them we shulde acknowledge, embrace, and receyve thorough fayth the mercie of God and the merite and communion of Christ; and that God worketh by these signes and exhibiteth unto us the gyftes in dede, which He offereth wyth these signes."2 Similarly, the same view is condemned in the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, in the following words: "Magna quoque temeritas illorum est, qui sacramenta sic extenuant ut ea pro nudis signis, et externis tantum indiciis capi velint, quibus tanquam notis hominum Christianorum religio possit a cæteris internosci, nec animadvertunt quantum sit scelus, hæc sancta Dei instituta inania et vacua credere." 3 According to this Anabaptist theory, baptism was merely a "mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from other that be not christened," and the Eucharist was nothing more than "a sign of the love that imo scio, omnia sacramenta tam abesse ut gratiam conferant, ut ne adferant quidem aut dispensent" (see Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum, p. 24), and elsewhere (De peccato originali declaratio): "Symbola igitur sunt externa ista rerum spiritualium et ipsa minime sunt spiritualia, nec quidquam spirituale in nobis perficiunt: sed sunt eorum qui spirituales sunt, quasi tesseræ." But his followers were to a great extent influenced by Calvin's teaching, and in the Consensus Tigurinus (1549) they admit that they are more than "marks or badges of profession." "Sunt quidem et hi sacramentorum fines ut notæ sint ac tessera Christianæ professionis et societatis sive fraternitatis, ut sint ad gratiarum actionem incitamenta et exercitia fidei ac piæ vitæ, denique syngraphæ ad id obligantes. Sic hic unus inter alia præcipuus ut per ea nobis gratiam suam testetur Deus, repræsentet atque obsignet."-Niemeyer, p. 193. English translation (ed. 1548) fol. cxlii. De Hæres. c. xvii.