The central evil of sacerdotalism is therefore present in this scheme in its full manifestation, and wherever it is fully operative we find men exalting the means of grace and more or less forgetting the true agent of all gracious operations, the Holy Spirit himself, in their absorption with the instrumentalities through which alone he is supposed to work.
There are three aspects of the working of the sacerdotal system which must be kept clearly in view, if we wish to appraise with any accuracy the injury to the religious interests which it inevitably works.
In the first place, the sacerdotal system separates the soul from direct contact with and immediate dependence upon God the Holy Spirit as the source of all its gracious activities. It interposes between the soul and the source of all grace a body of instrumentalities, on which it tempts it to depend; and it thus betrays the soul into a mechanical conception of salvation.
In the second place, sacerdotalism deals with God the Holy Spirit, the source of all grace, in utter neglect of his personality, as if he were a natural force, operating, not when and where and how he pleases, but uniformly and regularly wherever his activities are released.
And this obviously involves, in the third place, the subjection of the Holy Spirit in his gracious operations to the control of men. Instead of the Church and the sacraments, the means of grace, being conceived, as they are represented in the Scriptures, and as they must be thought of in all healthful religious conceptions of them, as instrumentalities which the Holy Spirit uses in working salvation, the Holy Spirit is made an instrument which the Church, the means of grace, use in working salvation.
His statement is proven, not disproved by the Augsburg Confession when we read such things as;
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Article V: That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ's sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ's sake.
Let's use the English translation of the German. The German is considered more official than the Latin version (The Book of Concord, Tappert, p. 24) and it more clearly identifies who is doing the action.
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To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases in those who hear the Gospel. And the Gospel teaches that we have a gracious God, not by our own merits but by the merit of Christ, when we believe this. Condemned are the Anabaptists and others who teach that the Holy Spirit comes to us through our own preparations, thoughts, and works without the external word of the Gospel.
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It is simply salvation by works—the works of man, not God, though done in God’s name! VERY much like the false, “Name It, Claim It, Frame It,” doctrine of many, the Lutheran Church has the, “Baptize It, Utilize It, Exercise It,” doctrine of the church. That is when Lutherans “baptize,” they believe they “utilize” the Holy Spirit (an instrument of their cause), and thereby “exercise” out sin and redeem the sinner from the Devil, which gives eternal salvation. God becomes a manipulated secondary cause of salvation and not the primary cause! This is not salvation by grace alone! Thus, once again, I must make a plea for your soul Speratus, for your salvation is resting in the works of men and your Church and not in the very person of Jesus Christ alone!
It is your church not mine that tries to turn baptism into a meritorious work. I am not the one who relies on a work of baptism. God is not one bit pleased that I submitted to baptism. Don't turn God's gift into a human work!
