American Lutheranism vindicated

by S. S. Schmucker

That the sacraments are not IMMMEDIATE conditions of pardon or justification, is evident, from a multitude of considerations.

1. If the sincere reception of the sacraments actually secures pardon or justification per se, immediately, without the intervening instrumentality of a living faith, then faith is not the only condition of justification as the scriptures teach, but we are justified either by faith, or by the sacraments, and then there will be three conditions of justification, faith, baptism, and the Lord's Supper! For thousands receive the eucharist sincerely, who are unregenerate, and have not a living faith.

2. Because no sinner is morally qualified for pardon, until he has been regenerated, and has consecrated himself to the service of God; but multitudes receive the sacrament who are unregenerate, and who therefore cannot be justified or pardoned, even by the sincere reception of the sacraments. Hence as the reception of the sacraments is no certain proof of pardon, it cannot be the immediate condition of it.

3. The sacraments are not immediate conditions of justification or pardon, because previous faith is required in the recipients of each of them. "He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved," [Note 20] says the great Redeemer; "but he that believeth not shall be damned." But if some may be baptised who are destitute of faith, then the existence of faith is not necessarily involved in baptism. And as baptism without faith does not rescue the soul from damnation, it evidently cannot be the immediate or certain condition of pardon; for if the immediate condition of a blessing is performed, that blessing must be conferred. And since previous faith is required in baptism, and none but the baptised are admitted to the Lord's Supper, it is evident that faith is also required of communicants.

4. That they are not immediate conditions of pardon, is evident, because the same truths which the sacraments inculcate, do not when taught orally or in God's word, invariably or necessarily secure the pardon or justification of all attentive hearers. The result of the proper use of the truth preached or read, is invariably the spiritual advancement of the sinner, whatever the stage of his progress may be. And such appears to be the operation of the sacraments. As it is absurd to affirm that each sermon preached, will convert or affect the pardon of every sinner who attentively hears it; so it were equally gratuitous to affirm the same of the sacraments. If the sinner had been on the verge of regeneration and faith before he heard the sermon in question, and the hearing of that discourse completed the change, the result might be affirmed of the last sermon which preceded his faith, but not of its predecessors; and so also of the sacraments as means of grace. Every sermon attentively heard will benefit all who thus hear it. But whether it will produce conviction, or penitence, or faith, or a sense of pardoned sin, depends on the recipient's previous stage of progress in the divine life.

5. If the sacraments were possessed of a sin-forgiving power, in such a sense, as to be the immediate conditions of pardon or justification, then the sinner would be dependent for pardon on the sacraments, and on the clergyman who administers them, and not immediately on the Spirit of God. But this would virtually be one of the most dangerous features of Puseyism and Romanism, by which the minister is thrust in between the penitent, sinner and his God, and the priest is elevated to the position of the dispenser of pardon, holding in his hand the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Now it is indeed flattering to the frail heart of the minister (for we are all mere men) to find himself elevated to such an exalted post, to stand (as the Papists say of their priest) in the place of God, and have his whole congregation look to him for the pardon of sin, in private confession and the sacraments; and this may possibly be one of the reasons why this Puseyite, semi-Romish system is more popular with the clergy than with the laity. But Protestant ministers should never forget, that the Saviour himself asserted it as his peculiar characteristic, "that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sin." Mark ii. 7.

6. That the sacraments are not the necessary or certain conditions of pardon, is evident, also, from the fact, that some, as the thief upon the cross, were saved without them after their institution, whilst others who had partaken of them were lost, of which Judas and Simon Magus are examples.

7. That the sacraments are not immediate conditions of pardon is finally evident from the declaration of the apostle Peter, "The like figure whereunto baptism doth now save us; not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, that is, not the mere outward rite of applying the water, but the answer of a good conscience toward God." [Note 21] that is, the faithful performance of the duties to which our Christian profession, made in baptism, obligated us, by keeping a conscience void of offence before God and man.

From all this, it is very clear, that whilst the sacraments are divinely appointed as means and seals of grace, they operate like divine truth, either oral or written, by promoting that great change of heart, without which no man can see God: that where they are received with a living faith, there is indeed pardon of sin or justification; but this pardon is the result of that living faith, the appointed condition of justification, and not of the sacraments, which can only tend to secure pardon by promoting faith.

That these views of the mode of operation of the sacraments, are sustained by many of our ablest divines, is evinced by the following extracts from their works. Dr. Mosheim, one of the greatest ornaments of the Lutheran Church, expressly affirms, "Those who possess faith have the benefits of Christ sealed and confirmed to them. Let it therefore be remarked, that faith is necessary to the salutary fruit and effect of the sacraments, though not required as necessary to their essence (namely, as valid outward ordinances.") [Note 22] The distinguished Dr. Reinhard says, "We attribute to the sacraments a really beneficial influence in effecting our salvation, only in as far as they are used in accordance with their design. This is a necessary inference from the nature of a ceremony (or rite) in general, which can only then be of any service, when it excites those views and feelings, which it is designed to produce." Here this illustrious divine evidently implies that the sacraments exert their influence by promoting certain views and feelings, and that these are the immediate causes of the beneficial results, such as pardon and salvation: consequently the sacraments are mediate, but not immediate conditions of pardon.