The same free and charitable principle has directed the administration of the _sacraments_, a circumstance the more remarkable, since, in the judgment of the most eminent Fathers of the Church, these are the channels by which spiritual grace is actually communicated to all who are rightfully baptized, and religiously partake of the Lord's supper. The formularies of our own branch of Christ's Catholic Church are so clear and definite on this point, that every effort of ingenious casuistry to give them another meaning, or to reconcile their use with the Calvinistic theology, has ended in discomfiture. The _sacraments_ are "outward and visible signs 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." This _grace_ is imparted, not as to the elect and to them exclusively, but as to beings who are free and responsible, who have to account for their use of this sacred and inestimable gift, and who may forfeit its blessings by subsequent guilt and final impenitence. The present state of our knowledge, or rather ignorance of the philosophy of the human mind, may not supply us with a satisfactory answer for those, who, in a cavilling or sceptical spirit, ask, "How can these things be?" But it is the doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Church, and it is perplexed with fewer difficulties than will be found to press upon every other hypothesis. Supposing the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination to be founded in truth, the very existence of the visible Church in its present form is a mystery which requires to be solved. No part of its constitution or order harmonises with a scheme based on fatalism, and limiting the grace of Heaven to a narrow section of the human family. The Sabbath bell, joyously or solemnly, invites all who hear to come to the house of God; and in the name of the "great congregation" the minister of Christ addresses the Deity, saying, "_Our_ Father which art in heaven!" But Calvinism pronounces that God is _not_ "the lovely Father of all mankind;" and, that while He has instituted the rites of religious worship, and invites all to mingle in its sacred duties, He regards the greater number as "_cursed children_," marked out for perdition, "_before the morning stars sang together, or ever the sons of God shouted for joy_." The ministers of the Church administer to all adult converts from paganism, Judaism, or Mahometanism, who make a credible profession, and to all infants, whose sureties engage for their Christian education, the rite of baptism, signifying the remission of past sin, original or actual, and pledging the communication of whatever grace is needful to remedy or assist the weakness of nature in the moral warfare with temptation.