They cannot therefore be the condition of pardon or justification.
These influences, like those of the truth, may be resisted, and depend for their success on the disposition of the recipient; they do not act _ex opere operato_.

The _special_ influence of the sacraments, so far as known, is the same in kind_ as that of the truth.
_That the sacraments are not_ IMMMEDIATE _conditions of pardon or justification_, is evident, from a multitude of considerations.
1.

If the sincere reception of the sacraments actually secures pardon or justification _per se, immediately_, without the intervening instrumentality of a living faith, then faith is not the only condition of justification as the scriptures teach, but we are justified either by faith, or by the sacraments, and then there will be _three conditions of justification_, faith, baptism, and the Lord's Supper! For thousands receive the eucharist sincerely, who are unregenerate, and have not a living faith.
2.

Because no sinner is morally qualified for pardon, until he has been regenerated, and has consecrated himself to the service of God; but multitudes receive the sacrament who are unregenerate, and who therefore cannot be justified or pardoned, even by the sincere reception of the sacraments.

Hence as the reception of the sacraments is no certain proof of pardon, it cannot be the immediate condition of it.
3.