allow to be holy functions derived from the Apostles, though they want the essential qualities of a Sacrament. Penance, as practised by Papists, is a corruption of a part of ancient ecclesiastical discipline, and was perverted into its present form of a sacrament, by the management and contrivance of the clergy in the times of darkness and ignorance. Matrimony has no claim whatever to be considered as a Christian sacrament, since it was not instituted by our Saviour, nor was its original character changed by the Gospel. It is indeed a divine institution, and a state of so much importance to the happiness of mankind, that it is very proper to be solemnised by prayer and other acts of religious worship. And, lastly, we entirely reject Extreme Unction, as having no other foundation than that of a symbolical rite, incidentally mentioned in Scripture, as accompanying the miraculous healing of bodily diseases in the apostolic age.

I shall only further observe upon this subject, that as St. Peter commanded his hearers to be baptized for the remission of sins, so our Saviour, when he instituted the Lord's Supper, took the cup, and gave it to the Apostles, saying, "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins;" thus remission of sins, which was the great object of Christ's coming into the world, is pronounced to be clearly connected with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and with no other rite or ceremony whatever. This circumstance clearly points out the

importance of these two ordinances to our eternal salvation, and at the same time is an irrefragable proof, that all other ordinances, and consequently the FIVE COMMONLY CALLED SACRAMENTS, HAVE NOT LIKE NATURE OF SACRAMENTS WITH BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER.

Though the remaining part of this Article speaks of sacraments in the plural number, yet it more particularly relates to the Lord's Supper only.

THE SACRAMENTS WERE NOT ORDAINED OF CHRIST TO BE GAZED UPON, OR TO BE CARRIED ABOUT.

There is no authority in Scripture, nor any precedent in the primitive church, for the Romish practice of carrying about the eucharist; such pompous processions are inconsistent with the simplicity and spiritual nature of Christian ordinances. The institution of the eucharist was, "Take, eat," and "Drink ye all of it;" whence it is evident that the elements were consecrated, that the persons who were present might immediately eat and drink them.

BUT THAT WE SHOULD DULY USE THEM. It is evidently incumbent upon every Christian to use the Sacraments according to the design of their original institution. The Sacrament of Baptism being the admission of a person into the Christian church, is not to be repeated. When any one in the primitive times, on account of persecution, or from any other cause, apostatised from the Christian religion, and afterwards returned to it, he was not rebaptized; on the other hand, the Sacrament of

the Lord's Supper being a declaration of a person's continuance in the Christian religion, no opportunity of receiving it ought to be omitted. It was administered much more frequently in the primitive ages than it is in the present times; and it is deeply to be lamented that Christians are now much less constant and regular in partaking of it than they formerly were.

AND IN SUCH ONLY AS WORTHILY RECEIVE THE SAME, THEY HAVE A WHOLESOME EFFECT OR OPER

ATION. We derive no benefits from the receiving of the Sacraments, nor indeed from the performance of any part of our religious duty, unless it be done with a proper disposition, and a suitable frame of mind; "God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."a This sentence of the Article is also directed against the Papists, who maintain that the partaking of the Lord's Supper necessarily promotes our salvation; that the opus operatum, as they call it, is always attended with real benefit.

BUT THEY THAT RECEIVE THEM UNWORTHILY PURCHASE TO THEMSELVES DAMNATION, AS ST. PAUL

SAITH. The passage here referred to is the following, and it relates to the Lord's Supper only: "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." It is material to observe, that the word damnation, at the time the Bible was translated, meant no more than condemnation

b

b 1 Cor. xi. 29.

any sentence of punishment whatever, without a particular reference to the eternal torments to which the impenitently wicked will be consigned at the last day; and that St. Paul, in the above passage, does not refer to that dreadful punishment, appears from the following verse: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep," that is, are dead. The Corinthians had been guilty of great abuses in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and the damnation which they thereby brought upon themselves was, as we here learn from St. Paul, weakness, sickness, and death, that is, temporal punishments only, and not eternal damnation. This is also evident from the thirtysecond verse: "But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world;" that is, when we are punished in this manner in the present life, we are chastened and corrected by our heavenly Father, that we may be brought to a sense of our duty, and by reforming ourselves may avoid that condemnation which the impenitent world will suffer in a future state. The word Kpiua, used in this passage by St. Paul, occurs frequently in the New Testament, but in no one instance does it exclusively signify the sentence of eternal punishment. It is sometimes translated judgment, as, "The time is come, that judgment must begin at the house of God";" and sometimes it is rendered by the word condemnation, as when one of the malefactors, who

a

were crucified, with our blessed Lord, rebukes the other in these words, "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ?" It is evident, that in these passages eternal damnation could not be meant. When, therefore, it is said, that by unworthily receiving the Lord's Supper men purchase to themselves damnation, the meaning is, that by so doing they are guilty of a great sin, and are therefore liable to punishment from God; but this, like other sins, may be repented of and forgiven, through the merits and for the sake of our blessed Redeemer.

ARTICLE THE TWENTY-SIXTH.

OF THE UNWORTHINESS OF MINISTERS, WHICH HINDERS NOT THE EFFECT OF THE SACRAMENTS.

Although in the visible Church the Evil be ever mingled with the Good, and sometimes the Evil have chief Authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments; yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their

a

Luke, xxiii. 40.

b It is much to be feared, that the expression, "we eat and drink our own damnation," in our Communion Service, deters many persons from participating of the Lord's Supper; and therefore I recommend it to all clergymen occasionally to explain to their congregations the meaning of the original passage from which it is taken, as well as the sense of the

word damnation, when our Bible was translated. That the compilers of our Liturgy did not intend to apply the word damnation, any more than St. Paul the word Koiua, to eternal punishment, is evident from what follows: "We kindle God's wrath against us, we provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death." The word condemnation is used in the 29th Article.