s of current thought in the Church now is the tendency to
invert, in a certain way, the relations between Sacrament and Grace; to
develop a doctrine of the Sacrament such that the doctrine of Grace can
be seen only, as it were, through it. And the result is, very often, so
at least it seems to me to be, a very poor and attenuated presentation
of the glorious things said in Scripture about "the grace of God which
bringeth salvation," [Tit. ii. 11.] and about the work of pure and
simple, but mysteriously mighty, faith in our appropriation of Christ's
merits and our reception of Christ's living power by the Holy Ghost. Let
no such inversion mark your teaching. And if I may give one further
suggestion, I would say, remind yourself frequently of the very words of
the Prayer Book (including the Catechism) and the Articles on these
great subjects. And inform yourself to some extent, at first hand, of
the views of the men who cast our Services and our Articles into their
practically present shape; the views of Cranmer, of Ridley, of Jewell,
and, just after them, of Hooker; not forgetting one great foreign
theologian, Henry Bullinger, who exercised a special influence on the
English divines of Edward and Elizabeth's time in the matter of
sacramental doctrine.[21] You will find in him a full measure of holy
reverence, and at the same time a luminous clearness and definiteness of
exposition. The central idea of his teaching is the idea of the Covenant
Seal, the "instrument" of solemn, valid, legal "conveyance."

[19] I mean of course Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, which _alone_
the Church of England recognizes as Christian Sacraments, _Sacramenta
Evangelica_, "Sacraments of the Gospel" (see Art. xxv., par. 2).

[20] _Certa testimonia, efficacia signa_ (Art. xxv.). It is worth the
while to point out that a "_sign_" is "_effectual_" when it _effectually
does the work of a sign_, not some quite different work. A seal is an
effectual seal, not because, conceivably, its matter could be used as a
powerful medicine, but because, _attached to its document_, it
effectually seals the document's validity. A seal is in this respect a
special sort of "effectual sign." And so are the Sacraments.

[21] See the Parker Society's collection of authors for Bullinger's
_Decades_, or Doctrinal Sermons; officially recognized as a body of
divinity by the Church of England in Elizabeth's reign.

MISTAKES ABOUT CHURCH DOCTRINE.

While on the subj