SACRAMENT, the military oath taken by every Roman soldier, pledging him to obey his commander and not to desert his standard; hence, an oath or ceremony involving an obligation.
In Protestant theology the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States define a sac rament as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof." They recognize two only as generally neces sary to salvation, Baptism and the Sup per of the Lord. Article xxv. says that they were ordained by Christ not only to be badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but also, or rather, to be sure signs of grace and God's good will toward us, by which He strengthens our faith in Him. They have a wholesome effect or operation only to those who worthily receive them; unworthy recipients pur chase to themselves damnation (I Cor. xi. 29. The Revised Version has "judg ment.") The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches essentially the same doc trine. It considers sacraments to be "holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace" (ch. xxvii.). Other Protestant formulas are substantially the same.
In Roman theology, a visible sign, in stituted by Christ, which confers ex opere operato (by the performance of the act) sanctifying grace on man. Matter, form and a minister acting with the intention of doing what the Church does are neces sary to the valid administration of a sac rament. Besides sanctifying grace, sacra ments confer sacramental grace—that is, they aid the suscipient in a special man ner to attain the end for which each sacrament was instituted. The Council of Trent (seas. vii., can. 1) defines that the Sacraments of the New Law were instituted by our Lord, and are neither more nor fewer than seven in number: Baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy orders, and matri mony. The first five are necessary for all Christians, the last two are necessary only for the community. Baptism, con firmation, and orders imprint a character on their subject and cannot be repeated without sacrilege. The term sacraments of the old law has been adopted to signify circumcision, the paschal lamb, the ordi nation of priests and Levites, etc., of the Mosaic economy.