SACRAMENT, is derived from the Latin word sacramentum, which signifies an oath, particularly the oath taken by soldiers to be true to their country and their general. The words of this oath, according to Polybius, were obtemperaturus sum et facturus quicquid mandabitur ab imperatoribus juxta vires. The word was adopted by the writers of the Latin Church, and employed to denote those ordinances of religion by which Christians came under an obligation, equally sacred with that of an oath, to observe their part of the covenant of grace, and in which they had the assurance of Christ that he would fulfil his part of the same covenant.
Of sacraments, in this sense of the word, Protestant churches admit but of two; and it is not easy to conceive how a greater number can be made out from Scripture, if the definition of a sacrament be just which is given by the Church of England. By that church the meaning of the word sacrament is declared to be "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." According to this definition, baptism and the Lord's Supper are certainly sacraments; for each consists of an outward and visible sign of what is believed to be an inward and spiritual grace; both were ordained by Christ himself; and by the
reception of each does the Christian come under a solemn obligation to be true to his Divine master, according to the terms of the covenant of grace. The Roman Catholics, however, add to this number confirmation, penance, extreme unction, ordination, and marriage; in all, seven sacraments. They call the eucharist, by way of eminence, the Holy Sacrament. Thus to expose the holy sacrament, is to lay the consecrated host on the altar to be adored. The procession of the holy sacrament is that in which this host is carried about the church, or about a town.