Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 13.djvu/392



Of the sacraments of the church, as means through which divine grace is communicated to us. The sacraments are defined as follows:

“(1) A sacrament is a holy action which under a visible form communicates to the soul of the believer the invisible grace of God, an action which was established by our Lord, and by which every one of the believers receives divine grace.

“Consequently the nature of the sacraments the church assumes to consist in this, that there are sacramental actions which actually communicate divine grace to the believer, that they ‘are not only signs of divine promises, but instruments which necessarily act through grace upon those who proceed toward them.’ As essential qualities of each of the sacraments it regards: (a) the divine establishment of the sacrament, (b) some visible or sensual image, and (c) the communication of invisible grace by the sacrament to the soul of the believer.” (p. 313.)

It is necessary to direct the attention to the definition of the nature of the sacraments and to the words “divine establishment of the sacraments,” in order that we may later be able so much the more clearly to analyze the deception on which the Theology tries to establish the dogma of the sacraments. Seven sacraments are counted out, and the heresies of all the other Christians, except of our hierarchy, are refuted. Here are the heresies:

“(1) Of the nature of the sacraments. According to