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.”—25th 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.”—25th 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.