The Westminster Confession of Faith
Chapter 27 - Of the Sacraments
1. Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ
and His benefits; and to confirm our interest in Him; as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong
unto the Church, and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according
to His Word.
2. 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.
3. 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: but upon the work
of the Spirit, and the word of institution, which contains, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof,
a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.
4. There be 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.
5. The sacraments of the Old Testament, in regard of the spiritual things thereby signified
and exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the New.
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