I. Sacraments are holysigns and seals of the covenant of grace,(a) immediately institutedby God,(b) to represent Christ and His benefits; and to confirm ourinterest in Him;(c) as also, to put a visible difference betweenthose that belong unto the Church, and the rest of the world;(d) andsolemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according toHis Word.(e)
(a) Rom. 4:11; Gen.17:7, 10.
(b) Matt. 28:19; I Cor. 11:23.
(c) ICor. 10:16; I Cor. 11:25, 26; Gal. 3:17.
(d) Rom.15:8; Exod. 12:48; Gen. 34:14.
(e) Rom. 6:3, 4; ICor. 10:16, 21.
II. There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified: whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.(f)
(f) Gen.17:10; Matt. 26:27, 28; Tit. 3:5.
III. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it( g) but upon the work of the Spirit,(h) and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.(i)
(g) Rom.2:28, 29; I Pet. 3:21.
(h) Matt. 3:11; ICor. 12:13.
(i) Matt. 26:27, 28; Matt.28:19, 20.
IV. There are only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord: neither of which may be dispensed by any but by a minister of the Word lawfully ordained.(k)
(k) Matt.28:19; I Cor. 11:20, 23, I Cor. 4:1; Heb.5:4.
V. The sacraments of the Old Testament, in regard to the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the New.(l)
(l) ICor. 10:1, 2, 3, 4.
And
I. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein He was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of His body and blood, called the Lord’s Supper, to be observed in His Church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of Himself in His death; the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto Him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him,and with each other, as members of His mystical body.(a)
(a) ICor. 11:23, 24, 25, 26; I Cor. 10:16, 17, 21; ICor. 12:13.
II. In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to His Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sins of the quick or dead;(b) but only a commemoration of that one offering up of Himself, by Himself, upon the cross, once for all: and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same( c)so that the Popish sacrifice of the mass (as they call it) is most abominably injurious to Christ’s one, only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of His elect.(d)
(b) Heb.9:22, 25, 26, 28.
(c) I Cor.11:24, 25, 26; Matt. 26:26, 27.
(d) Heb.7:23, 24, 27; Heb. 10:11, 12, 14, 18.
VII. Worthy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament,
do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified,and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.(o)
I Cor. 11:28.
(o) ICor. 10:16.
VIII. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament: yet they receive not the thing signified thereby, but by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord to their own damnation.Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Him, so are they unworthy of the Lord’s table;and cannot, without great sin against Christ while they remain such,partake of these holy mysteries,(p) or be admitted thereunto.(q)
(p) I Cor. 11:27, 28, 29; II Cor.6:14, 15, 16.
(q) I Cor.5:6, 7, 13; II Thess. 3:6, 14, 15; Matt.7:6.
Ch 27 and part 1;2;7&8 of Ch 29 - Westminster Confession of Faith.