SACO 169 SACRAMENTARIANS SACO, a city in York co., Me.; on the Saco river, and on the Boston and Maine railroad; 4 miles from the ocean; and 14 miles W. S. W. of Portland. It is con- nected with Biddeford on the W. side of the river by bridges. Here are York institute, Thornton Academy, Dyer Li- brary, Wardwell Home for Old Ladies, street railroads, electric lights, and Na- tional and savings banks. The city has manufactories of harness, belting, brushes, boots and shoes, lumber, cotton goods, cotton machinery, etc. Pop. (1910) 5,583; (1920) 6,817. SACO, a river in the United States. It rises in New Hampshire, in the White Mountains, and runs S. E. into the At- lantic below Saco, Me. It is 160 miles long, and has falls of 72 feet at Hiram, of 42 feet at Saco, and numerous minor ones. 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 (sess. 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. SACRAMENTAL, in Roman theology, a name given to rites which bear some outward resemblance to the sacraments, but which are not of divine institution. They are: the prayers of the Church, especially the Lord's prayer; holy water, blessed ashes, palms and candles, blessed bread; the general confession in the mass and office; alms-giving, and the blessing of bishops and abbots. The prayers, how- ever, must be offered in a consecrated place, and the alms given in the name of the Church. See Sacrament. SACRAMENTARIANS, a term used in several senses. (1) Ordinarily in England it means one who holds a "high" or extreme doctrine of the efficacy of the sacraments, especially of the Eucharist. (2) Technically, however, the word is used in Church history in an almost dia- metrically opposite sense for persons holding a "low" doctrine on the subject of the sacraments — for the party among the Reformers who separated from Luther on the doctrine of the Eucharist. Luther taught the doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ along with the bread and wine. Carlstadt, Capito, and Bucer were the leaders of those who called this doctrine in question. This sacramentarian party became so considerable that in the diet of Augs- burg they claimed to present a special confession known in history by the name of the Tetrapolitan Confession — so called from the four cities, Strasburg, Con- stance, Lindau, and Memmingen. The Tetrapolitan Confession rejects the doc- trine of a corporeal presence, and though it admits a spiritual presence of Christ which the devout soul can feel and en- joy, it excludes all idea of a physical presence of Christ's body. Simultaneously with this German movement, yet inde- pendent of it, was that of the Swiss re- former Zwingli, whose doctrine on the Eucharist was identical with that of Carlstadt, and who himself presented a private confession of faith to the Augs- burg diet in which this doctrine is em- bodied. The four cities named above
