1 Substance or Shadow? PERHAPS the most important difference between The Salvation Army’s way of worshipping and that of many other religious denominations is that it does not use certain fixed ceremonies or ‘sacraments’ which others regard as necessary. The Catholic and Orthodox branches of the Church list seven such sacraments— baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing (extreme unction or ‘last rites’), ordination and matrimony. The Protestant Churches, however, recognize as sacraments only two of these—baptism and holy communion (eucharist), though even within Protestantism there is a good deal of disagreement about how they should be used. In this book, our consideration will be limited to the two ‘Protestant’ ceremonies. ‘Sacrament’ is not, of course, a biblical word. Its origin is found in the Latin word sacramentum which referred to a legal oath or solemn promise. It might be used of a soldier taking an ‘oath of allegiance’, or even refer to a deposit paid into court by a litigant who thereby bound himself to abide by the verdict handed down by the court. In the Vulgate—Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible, accepted as the ‘authorized version’ of the early Roman Church—this word is used to translate the Greek word musterion, which did not carry the same meaning as the modern English word ‘mystery’, ie something secret to which the key has not been found. In the New Testament musterion had a more restricted meaning— that which was formerly unknown and can now be known only by revelation. (See Ephesians 1:9; 3:3,9; 5:32; Colossians 1:27 and 1 Timothy 3:9,16 for examples of the use of the word.) iv
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