Sacraments a Dialogue With God
The Anglican faith is divided between those who are more Protestant in their beliefs and practices, and those who are more Catholic. Anglican Catholicism, sometimes referred to as the "High Church," is very similar to Roman Catholicism, but does not recognize the Pope as the head of the Church. When it comes to the sacraments, the High Church, like the Roman Catholic one, recognizes seven sacraments, while other Anglican churches recognize as little as two. Whether one recognizes seven sacraments, or only two, those sacraments are seen by Anglicans as "channels of grace, by which members of the Church are united to Christ, the centre of unity." (Staley, 1908, p. 64) These channels of grace have often been called a "dialogue with God."
The term "sacrament" comes from the Latin word sacer, meaning devotion to a particular deity, and "mentum," meaning intent, mind, or thought. These Latin terms were combined during the middle ages to form the term "sacramentum;" which translates roughly as "sacred rites." The Church used this term to describe seven ordinances, or rites, which have been attributed to either Christ's "direct institution, as recorded in the Gospels; other to the apostles acting…" (Staley, 1908, p. 257) The two main sacraments are called Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, while the lesser sacraments, which number five, are Confirmation, Penance, Holy Order, Holy Matrimony, and Unction, sometimes called Anointing of the Sick.
All humans trace their lineage back to Adam, and when he rejected God and committed the original sin, it was transferred to all humanity. As Saint Paul stated "By one man, sin entered into the world…By the offense of one, judgment came upon all men…By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners." (Romans 5.12-19) But God's love for mankind was so great that he sent his only son to take the form of man and die for mankind's, thus redeeming him. Jesus Christ came to save humanity from original sin, to be the second Adam and be the head of the new race of man. "For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ all be made alive." (I Corinthians 15.22) It is when humans are brought into union with Christ that the ties to Adam and his original sin is broken. "In short, we need to escape from a natural into a supernatural state- the state of grace." (Staley, 1908, p. 256)
In order to escape from the illness of sin, God has provided "a spiritual medicine by means of corporeal signs." (Aquinas, p. 2) Since man lives on earth and is a corporeal creature, while God in heaven is spiritual, man needs corporeal rites by which he can receive the spiritual grace of God, these rites are the sacraments. God's grace is the key to man's salvation, and since God gives man a way to achieve this salvation, through the sacraments, it is obvious that "man needs the sacraments that he may obtain grace." (Aquinas, p. 3) And God's…
