SACRAMENT (Let. saeramentum,mysterium, Gr. mysterion), the name given by theo logical writers to certain religious rites, the number as well as effects of which are the subject of much controversy between various bodies of Christians. The word sueramen turn, iu primitive classical usage, meant either the oath taken by soldiers on their first enrollment, or the sum of money deposited by suitors on entering upon a cause, and for feited " to sacred uses" by the unsuccessful party; and the corresponding classical Greek word mysteriou meant not merely the secret religious ceremonies practiced in the worship of certain gods, but also any revealed secret. It is certain, nevertheless, that at a very early period of the Christian church both the Latin word and its Greek equiii :dent came to be applied specially to certain rites of the Christian ceremonial, and chiefly (or as is commonly held by Protestants, exclusively) to those of baptism and the eucharist. Of the catecheticar lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the lectures devoted to the subject of baptism and the eucharist are called " mystagogic lectures." For our purposes, it will be enough to slate concisely what are the views of the several religious communities on this much controverted subject, which formed one of the earliest grounds of division between the Roman church and the reformers of the 16th century.
In the Roman church it is held that there arc seven sacraments, viz.: baptism, con firmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction. holy orders, and matrimony. The special teaching of Catholics on each of these rites s, i.l .• found under the several beads; but there are certain general principles regarding them all, on which the Roman Catho lic doctrine differs widely from that of the Reformed communities. Catholics define a sacrament to be a visible or sensible sign permanently instituted by God, and conveying real interior grace to the recipient, and they teach that all contain within themselves, as instruments, and, when they are received with proper dispositions, pro duce such grace by the virtue imparted to them by God, and not merely through the faith of the recipient; although they hold that proper dispositions on the part of the recipient, as sorrow for sin, love of God, pious resolves, etc., arc conditions indispensa ble for the efficacy of the sacramental rite. See OPUS OPERATUM. They divide the sacraments into two classes, "sacraments of the living," and "sacraments of the dead." The first class comprises the eucharist, confirmation, holy orders, and matritnony—all which sacraments can only be received fruitfully by persons in a state of grace or justi fication. The second includes baptism, penance, and extreme unction, the special pm.
pose of which is to remit sin, and which therefore can be received by persons in a state of sin, but penitent for that sin, and resolved to amend their lives. Of three of the sac raments, viz., baptism, confirmation, and holy orders, it is held that they imprint a "character," and therefore that they can only be received once. The others may he repeatedly received, but under conditions which will be learned under each separate bead. Two things are held to enter into the constitution of the sacrament—viz., the " matter" and the " form." By the former is meant the material clement or the physi cal action whereby that element is applied to the recipient of the sacrament; as water in baptism, oil in extreme unction, and in both the act of washing or of anointing. By the latter is understood the form of words employed by the minister in communicating to the recipient the external rite in which the sacramental act consists. The minister of a sacrament is the person who is supposed to be divinely authorized to impart it. The minister is different for different sacraments, as will be found under each separate head.
The reformed churches have for the most part discarded these views. By the majority of them the sacraments are held to be merely ceremonial observances, partly designed as a solemn act, by which each individual is talmitted to membership, or desires to make solemn profession thereof; partly intended to stimulate the faith and excite• the fervor and the pious dispositions of the recipient, to which dispositions alone all the interior effects are to be ascribed. As to the number of rites called by the name, almost all Protestants agree in restricting it to two—viz., baptism and the Lord's sup per; although some of the rites which Catholics regard as sacramental are retained by some of the Protestant communities as religious observances. In the English church, however, there has always been a school in which opinion tending toward the Catholic. view has prevailed. Not only has this school ascribed to the two rites of baptism and the eucharist or Lord's supper (q.v.) the power of producing an interior grace (which in the former is called regeneration); but many of them have been willing to call the other rites, especially confirmation, penance, and holy orders, by the name of sacrament. although of a secondary character, and not "generally necessary to salvation.' See TRACTARIANISM. The controversy on these questions has been in recent times the sub ject of more than one proceeding in the ecclesiastical courts and in the privy council.