this Section proceeds to guard this important truth from abuse, by carefully showing upon what this grace-conveying efficacy of the sacraments does not, and upon what it does, depend.

1st. This grace is not contained in the sacraments themselves, nor " is it conferred by any power in them."

According to the Romish and Ritualistic view, the grace signified is contained in the sacrament itself, as qualities inhere in substances, and it is together with the outward sign presented as a real objective sense to every recipient, whether believer or unbeliever. They hold also that the sacrament confers this grace upon every recipient who does not positively resist, as an ojpus operatum — by the sole force of. the sacramental action, as hot iron burns.*

This whole view is explicitly rejected as false by our Confession. And the whole efficacy of the sacrament is said to depend not upon any part of it separately, nor upon the whole together, but upon the sovereign power of the Holy Ghost, who is always present and uses the sacrament as his instrument and medium.

2d. The efficacy of the sacraments does not depend upon either the personal piety or the *' intention" of the person who administers them.

The Romanists admit that the efficacy of the sacraments does not depend upon the personal piety of the administrator, but they insist that it depends (a) upon the fact that the administrator is canonically authorized; (b) upon the fact that the administrator exercises at the moment of administration the secret " intention" of doing thereby what the Church intends in the definition of the sacrament.f The priest may outwardly pronounce every word and perform every action prescribed in the ritual, and the recipient may fulfil every condition required of him, and yet if the priest fails in the secret intention of conferring the grace through the

* Cone. Trident., Sess. vii., Cans. 6 and 8.

t Ibid., Sess. vii.. Can. 11. Dens, vol. v. p. 127.

sacrament then and there, the recipient goes away destitute of the grace he supposes himself to have received, and which the priest has ostensibly professed to confer,

3d. But the efficacy of the sacraments depends — (a.) Upon their divine appointment as means and channels of grace. They were not devised by man as suitable in themselves to produce a moral impression. But they were appointed by God, and we are commanded to use them as means of grace, and hence God virtually promises to meet every soul who uses them rightly in the sacrament. Christ seals his gracious covenant by them, and hence in their use invests with the grace of that covenant every soul to which it belongs. (6.) The efficacy of the sacrament resides in the sovereign and everpresent personal agency of the Holy Ghost, who uses the sacraments as his instruments and media of operation. The Spirit is the executive of God. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. Through him even the humanity of Jesus is virtually omnipresent, and all the benefits secured by his sacrifice are revealed and applied.

The parts of a sacrament are two — the sign and the thing signified. The sign is something sensible and visible — that may be seen and handled. Thus, the outward sign in baptism is water^ which is visible to us ; and the outward signs iir the Lord's supper are bread and icine^ which are also visible, and which we can handle and taste. The things signified

are Christ and the benefits of the new covenant. These are called the matter of the sacrament. The form consists in the spiritual relation or sacramental union, established between the sign and the thing signified by the divine institution. Though there is some analogy or resemblance between the outward signs and the things signified, yet their sacramental union depends entirely upon the institution of Christ. "From this union arises what has been called sacramental phraseology, or certain expressions in which the names of the sign and the thing signified are exchanged. Thus, the name of the sign is given to the thing signified, when Christ is called * our passover; ' and the name of the thing signified is given to the sign, when the bread is called the body of Christ. The foundation of this interchange is the sacramental union, which so couples them together that the one may be predicated of the other." *