The Sacraments (1920)

The Sacraments, illustrated by Thomas Noyes-Lewis.
Little Colour Cards, Series IV.
Leighton Buzzard: Faith Press, 1920.
Digitized by Richard Mammana, 2011.

1. The Sacrament of Creation. The Bible is divided into two parts, the old Covenant (or Testament) and the New. Covenant is a word meaning agreement between two parties—in this case between God and man. In the Roman army the "agreement" between the soldier and his sovereign (as in the British army) was confirmed with an oath, the Latin word for which is sacramentum. So the condition of his service was called his Sacrament. The whole of creation is God's Sacrament in this sense. Our picture is an allegory of the red Dawn of Creation. "Through Jesus Christ" is the covenant or Sacrament of all. 2. The Sacrament of Man. Get firm hold of the idea that when we say Sacrament we mean "This is how God works." The Hebrew Scriptures called the conditions of life and everything, God's Covenant, sometimes God's Law. But we who know Jesus Christ, use the word Sacrament. For God gives men freedom in the world which he has made. Our picture shows Adam after he used his freedom wrongly and was thrust out of the Garden. Yet he is still under Sacrament to God. For it was God's Eternal purpose that Jesus Christ should be born into the world as a man. Adam sees, so to speak, the vision of his daughter Mary and her Holy Child. 3. The Sacrament of the Christ. In the fulness of time the Son of Mary was born. Think of him, as in our picture, as just an ordinary boy playing in the street of Nazareth with the other children of the town. Yet all the angels were watching round. You could almost have heard the beating of their wings. For the fullest Sacrament of God was on earth—Jesus Christ born of a Virgin, making God and man One. Here is the real meaning of the word Sacrament. There are not two separate things in God's World, but all is One. Sin makes the world like a machine out of gear. In Christ all is put right.

4. The Sacrament of Holy Church. Wicked men rejected Jesus and crucified him. But their sin, like ours, had only a little power. Jesus rose from the dead with the spiritual strength which conquers everything. That spiritual strength he gaves to his Twelve Apostles. Ten days after his return to heaven they were praying in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit came upon them. The outward sign was the soun of a great wind with tongues of fire lighting on the head of each. In our picture a vision is shown of the Saviour and Creator (as on card 1) with the Dove (emblem of the Holy Spirit). Holy Church is a New Creation. 5. The Seven Sacraments of Holy Church. Holy Church is the New Creation in Christ Jesus—the New Sacrament is union with God through Jesus Christ. Everything in this new Creation is part of the one Great Sacrament (Jesus Christ). For the Church is the Body of Christ. But we mark Seven rites as specially Sacraments. In our picture they are shown as a jewelled transparent Cross through which the light of the Spirit shines. Baptism is the foot, on which rise the jewels of Absolution and Confirmation leading to the heart of the Holy Communion, right and left are the Sacraments of Order. Holy Orders (Mitre and Crozier) and Matrimony (Ring). Lastly the oil of Unction. Bishop and King support the sacred system. 6. The Sacrament of Baptism. Keep the picture of the Cross on card 5 in mindwhen looking at the rest of these cards. At the foot of the Cross of the Seven Sacraments stands the jewel of Baptism. It is the foundation Sacrament of Holy Church. For by Baptism we are made part of the Body of Christ, part of the Unity of God and Creation. Our picture shows a priest of the Church receiving the child from his (or her) god-parents. As he does so, and with water marks the Cross on the New Christian's forehead, one more human being becomes part of the great Sacrament. So above is shown the babies received by Jesus through the water.

7. The Sacrament of the Altar. We turn next to the central jewel of the Cross on card 5, the Sacrament of the Altar. Our picture shows the priest in the act of Breaking the Bread, as Jesus broke it in the same night in which he was betrayed. If you remember the great idea underlying the word Sacrament, you will see why the Breaking of the Bread is called simply the Blessed Sacrament. For, wonderful to relate, the Bread is made Christ, as the Word was made flesh when the Christ was born. As really and truly as you touch a friend when you shake hands with him, you touch Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. For he has said "This is my Body." 8. The Sacrament of Confirmation. Before Communion the Christian receives Confirmation of his Baptism by the Bishop. For the priest who baptised him only did so on account of the authority conferred on him by what is called the Apostolic College. And to be a full member of Holy Church the baptism must be "confirmed" by a member of the College, i.e. by the Bishop. Henceforth the Christian is a full member of Holy Church—a Knight of Holy Church. That is why in the Vision above there is shown our Lord laying his hands on a Knight, his soldier and servant unto his life's end. 9. The Sacrament of Absolution, commonly called Confession. For quite rightly we sinners think more of what we have to offer than of what we are going to get. You will come across many people who say they have never done anything to be ashamed of. They are lying. What they mean is theyw ill not own up. But the Christian is glad to own up. Not that he is not ashamed. He is. But the onlyw ay to get rid of the burden of sin, of a bad conscience, is to lay it at the foot of the Cross (as shown in the vision), and to receive God's Absolution from the minister of Holy Church.

10. The Sacrament of Holy Orders. Our picture shows the ordination of a priest. The Bishop, member of the Apostolic College, with power to ordain, presides sitting in his official seat. Round him are gathered his priests. The candidate kneels in front; as the Bishop lays his hands on the candidate's head, the priests, old and young, lay on their hands also at the same time. For a priest is chosen and set apart by the whole Church, acting under the Bishop. It is not the goodness or the cleverness of the Clergy which gives power to the Sacraments, but the Holy Spirit of God working in the united Body of Christ. 11. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. It may seem strange that so "private" a covenant as Marriage should be a Sacrament. But the vision in our picture shows the reason. It is the same vision as we had for the Sacrament of Creation (card 1). The oath of mutual service between bride and bridegroom is a very real Sacrament, for the family is God's way of "creating" the next generation. Remember then that Marriage is not a private contract but a Sacrament—a covenant which the man and the woman enter into with the whole Church. They swear to live together for better or worse, and none can break that pledge. 12. The Sacrament of Holy Unction. Lastly, we come to the end of life, when mortal sickness is on the Christian—when the valley of the shadow of death lies in front. Are you afraid of death? You need not be. For, as the vision in our picture shows, there stands One with arms outstretched waiting to receive you. "Come unto me," he says, "And I will give you rest." The Minister of Holy Church anoints your head and breast with oil, consecrating your body to Christ for recovery or for laying aside until the General Resurrection.

The Sacraments, illustrated by Thomas Noyes-Lewis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.


1. The Sacrament of Creation. The Bible is divided into two parts, the old Covenant (or Testament) and the New. Covenant is a word meaning agreement between two parties—in this case between God and man. In the Roman army the "agreement" between the soldier and his sovereign (as in the British army) was confirmed with an oath, the Latin word for which is sacramentum. So the condition of his service was called his Sacrament. The whole of creation is God's Sacrament in this sense. Our picture is an allegory of the red Dawn of Creation. "Through Jesus Christ" is the covenant or Sacrament of all.	2. The Sacrament of Man. Get firm hold of the idea that when we say Sacrament we mean "This is how God works." The Hebrew Scriptures called the conditions of life and everything, God's Covenant, sometimes God's Law. But we who know Jesus Christ, use the word Sacrament. For God gives men freedom in the world which he has made. Our picture shows Adam after he used his freedom wrongly and was thrust out of the Garden. Yet he is still under Sacrament to God. For it was God's Eternal purpose that Jesus Christ should be born into the world as a man. Adam sees, so to speak, the vision of his daughter Mary and her Holy Child.	3. The Sacrament of the Christ. In the fulness of time the Son of Mary was born. Think of him, as in our picture, as just an ordinary boy playing in the street of Nazareth with the other children of the town. Yet all the angels were watching round. You could almost have heard the beating of their wings. For the fullest Sacrament of God was on earth—Jesus Christ born of a Virgin, making God and man One. Here is the real meaning of the word Sacrament. There are not two separate things in God's World, but all is One. Sin makes the world like a machine out of gear. In Christ all is put right.


4. The Sacrament of Holy Church. Wicked men rejected Jesus and crucified him. But their sin, like ours, had only a little power. Jesus rose from the dead with the spiritual strength which conquers everything. That spiritual strength he gaves to his Twelve Apostles. Ten days after his return to heaven they were praying in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit came upon them. The outward sign was the soun of a great wind with tongues of fire lighting on the head of each. In our picture a vision is shown of the Saviour and Creator (as on card 1) with the Dove (emblem of the Holy Spirit). Holy Church is a New Creation.	5. The Seven Sacraments of Holy Church. Holy Church is the New Creation in Christ Jesus—the New Sacrament is union with God through Jesus Christ. Everything in this new Creation is part of the one Great Sacrament (Jesus Christ). For the Church is the Body of Christ. But we mark Seven rites as specially Sacraments. In our picture they are shown as a jewelled transparent Cross through which the light of the Spirit shines. Baptism is the foot, on which rise the jewels of Absolution and Confirmation leading to the heart of the Holy Communion, right and left are the Sacraments of Order. Holy Orders (Mitre and Crozier) and Matrimony (Ring). Lastly the oil of Unction. Bishop and King support the sacred system.	6. The Sacrament of Baptism. Keep the picture of the Cross on card 5 in mindwhen looking at the rest of these cards. At the foot of the Cross of the Seven Sacraments stands the jewel of Baptism. It is the foundation Sacrament of Holy Church. For by Baptism we are made part of the Body of Christ, part of the Unity of God and Creation. Our picture shows a priest of the Church receiving the child from his (or her) god-parents. As he does so, and with water marks the Cross on the New Christian's forehead, one more human being becomes part of the great Sacrament. So above is shown the babies received by Jesus through the water.


7. The Sacrament of the Altar. We turn next to the central jewel of the Cross on card 5, the Sacrament of the Altar. Our picture shows the priest in the act of Breaking the Bread, as Jesus broke it in the same night in which he was betrayed. If you remember the great idea underlying the word Sacrament, you will see why the Breaking of the Bread is called simply the Blessed Sacrament. For, wonderful to relate, the Bread is made Christ, as the Word was made flesh when the Christ was born. As really and truly as you touch a friend when you shake hands with him, you touch Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. For he has said "This is my Body."	8. The Sacrament of Confirmation. Before Communion the Christian receives Confirmation of his Baptism by the Bishop. For the priest who baptised him only did so on account of the authority conferred on him by what is called the Apostolic College. And to be a full member of Holy Church the baptism must be "confirmed" by a member of the College, i.e. by the Bishop. Henceforth the Christian is a full member of Holy Church—a Knight of Holy Church. That is why in the Vision above there is shown our Lord laying his hands on a Knight, his soldier and servant unto his life's end.	9. The Sacrament of Absolution, commonly called Confession. For quite rightly we sinners think more of what we have to offer than of what we are going to get. You will come across many people who say they have never done anything to be ashamed of. They are lying. What they mean is theyw ill not own up. But the Christian is glad to own up. Not that he is not ashamed. He is. But the onlyw ay to get rid of the burden of sin, of a bad conscience, is to lay it at the foot of the Cross (as shown in the vision), and to receive God's Absolution from the minister of Holy Church.


10. The Sacrament of Holy Orders. Our picture shows the ordination of a priest. The Bishop, member of the Apostolic College, with power to ordain, presides sitting in his official seat. Round him are gathered his priests. The candidate kneels in front; as the Bishop lays his hands on the candidate's head, the priests, old and young, lay on their hands also at the same time. For a priest is chosen and set apart by the whole Church, acting under the Bishop. It is not the goodness or the cleverness of the Clergy which gives power to the Sacraments, but the Holy Spirit of God working in the united Body of Christ.	11. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. It may seem strange that so "private" a covenant as Marriage should be a Sacrament. But the vision in our picture shows the reason. It is the same vision as we had for the Sacrament of Creation (card 1). The oath of mutual service between bride and bridegroom is a very real Sacrament, for the family is God's way of "creating" the next generation. Remember then that Marriage is not a private contract but a Sacrament—a covenant which the man and the woman enter into with the whole Church. They swear to live together for better or worse, and none can break that pledge.	12. The Sacrament of Holy Unction. Lastly, we come to the end of life, when mortal sickness is on the Christian—when the valley of the shadow of death lies in front. Are you afraid of death? You need not be. For, as the vision in our picture shows, there stands One with arms outstretched waiting to receive you. "Come unto me," he says, "And I will give you rest." The Minister of Holy Church anoints your head and breast with oil, consecrating your body to Christ for recovery or for laying aside until the General Resurrection.