A TREATISE OF THE SACRAMENTS, GATHERED OUT OF CERTAIN SERMONS WHICH THE REVEREND FATHER I HAVE opened unto you the contents of the Lord's prayer, and shewed you upon whom we ought to call, and what to ask; and the articles of our christian faith, in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of the church, of remission of sins, of the resurrection, and of life everlasting, &c. And I have opened unto you the ten commandments, and in them what our duty is towards God, towards our prince and magistrates, towards our parents, towards our neighbour, and towards ourselves. All this have I done simply and plainly, without all shew of learning, that it might the better sink into our hearts. Now I think good to speak of the sacraments of the church, that all you may know what they are, because you are all partakers of the holy sacraments. Christ hath ordained them, that by them he might set before our eyes the mysteries of our salvation, and might more strongly confirm the faith which we have in his blood, and might seal his grace in our hearts. As princes' seals confirm and warrant their deeds and charters; so do the sacraments witness unto our conscience that God's promises are true, and shall continue for ever. Thus doth God make known his secret purpose to his church: first, he declareth his mercy by his word; then he sealeth it and assureth it by his sacraments. In the word we have his promises: in the sacraments we see them. It would require a long time, if I should utter that might be said in this matter; especially in laying open such errors and abuses as have crept into the church. But I will have regard to this place, and so frame my speech, that the meanest and simplest may reap profit thereby. That you may the better remember it, I will keep this order. I will shew you what a sacrament is; secondly, who hath ordained them; thirdly, wherefore they were ordained, and what they work in us; fourthly, how many there are; and then I will briefly speak of every one of them. August. de A sacrament is an outward and visible sign, whereby God sealeth up his grace in our hearts, to the confirmation of our faith. St Augustine saith: Sacramentum est invisibilis gratiæ visibile signum1: "A sacrament is a visible sign of grace invisible." And, that we may the better understand him, he telleth us what thing we should call a sign. "A sign is a thing that, besides the sight itself which it offereth to the senses, causeth of itself some other certain thing to come to knowledge"." baptism the water is the sign; and the thing signified is the grace of God. We see the water; but the grace Ad Marcell. of God is invisible: we cannot see it. Moreover he saith: [Signa], cum ad Epist. 5. [In the edition of 1583 the following copy of verses is prefixed to this treatise: Ornatissimo viro Thomæ Randolpho armigero serenissimo ad Scotos Legato integerrimo. Quis te junxit amor docto, Randolphe, Juello, In Hæc tuus exposuit sancte, tibi dedico: ne sit [ August. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. De i. August. Epist. 23. ad Hom. 7. in 1 Cor. Gen. ix. Gen. xvii. res divinas adhibentur, sacramenta vocantur1: "Signs, when they be applied to godly things, be called sacraments." The signification and the2 substance of the sacrament is to shew us, how we are washed with the passion of Christ, and how we are fed with the body of Christ. And again: "If sacraments had not a certain likeness and representation of the things whereof they be sacraments, then indeed they were no sacraments. And, because of this likeness which they have with the things they represent, they be oftentimes3 termed by the names of the things themselves. Therefore after a certain manner of speech (and not otherwise) the sacrament of the body of Christ is the body of Christ, and the sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood of Christ; so the sacrament of faith is faith1." Who hath ordained the sacraments? Not any prelate, not any prince, not any angel or archangel, but only God himself: for he only hath authority to seal the charter, in whose authority only it is to grant it; and only he giveth the pledge, and confirmeth his grace to us, which giveth his grace into our hearts. Chrysostom saith: Divinum et integrum non esset mysterium, si quicquam ex te adderes5: "The mystery were not of God, nor perfect, if thou shouldest put any thing to it." In the days of Noah, when God determined to be merciful unto his people, and never to drown the whole world with water, he said: "I have set my bow in the cloud; and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth; and when I shall cover the earth with a cloud, and the bow shall be seen in the cloud, then will I remember my covenant which is between me and you, and between every living thing in flesh; and there shall be no more waters of a flood to destroy all flesh." In like manner, when God would witness and stablish to Abraham and his seed after him the promise of his mercy, he himself ordained a sacrament to confirm the same: "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee: let every man-child among you be circumcised.” Thus God ordained the sacrament of circumcision. This sacrament was a seal of God's promise to Abraham, and a seal of Abraham's faith and obedience towards God. By this sacrament was man bound to the Lord; and by the same sacrament God vouchsafed to bind himself to man. But how is the sacrament Tract. 80, in formed? of what parts is it made? Augustine saith: Accedat verbum ad elementum, et fit sacramentum": "Join the word of Christ's institution with the sensible creature, and thereof is made a sacrament." Join the word to the creature of water, and thereof is made the sacrament of baptism: take away the word, then what is the water other than water? The word of God and the creature make a sacrament. xiii. Johan. Lib. xix. contr. Faust. cap. xi. But why were sacraments ordained? He telleth you: In nullum...nomen religionis, ceu verum, &c.3: “Men cannot be gathered together to the profession of any religion, whether it be true or false, unless they be bound in the fellowship of visible signs or9 sacraments." The first cause why they were ordained is, that thereby one should acknowledge another, as fellows of one household, and members of one body. So was all Israel reckoned the children of Abraham, because of their circumcision; and all such as were uncircumcised were cut off from the people, and had no part in the commonwealth of Israel, because they were uncircumcised: even as we take them that are not baptized to be none of our brethren, to be no children of God, nor members of his church, because they will not take the sacrament of baptism. [ Id. ad Marcellin. Epist. cxxxviii. 7. Tom. II. col. 412; where pertinent and appellantur.] [2 1583 omits the.] [3 Ofttimes, 1583.] [ Id. Ad Bonifac. Epist. xcviii. 9. Tom. II. col. [ Man was bound, 1583, 1609.] [7 August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. In Johan. Evang. cap. xv. Tractat. lxxx. 3. Tom. III. Pars II. col. 703; where accedit.] [ In &c. seu falsum, coagulari homines possunt, nisi aliquo signaculorum vel sacramentorum visibilium consortio colligentur.-Id. contr. Faust. Lib. XIX. cap. xi. Tom. VIII. col. 319.] [Of, 1609, 1611.] Another cause is, to move, instruct, and teach our dull and heavy hearts by sensible creatures; that so our negligence in not heeding or marking the word of God spoken unto us might be amended. For, if any man have the outward seal, and have not the faith thereof sealed within his heart, it availeth him not he is but an hypocrite and dissembler. So the circumcision of the foreskin of the flesh taught them to mortify their fleshly affections, and to cut off the thoughts and devices of their wicked hearts. Therefore said Stephen to the Jews: "Ye stiff-necked and of uncircumcised hearts and ears, you have Acts vii. always resisted the Holy Ghost." So, when in baptism our bodies are washed with water, we are taught that our souls are washed in the blood of Christ. The outward washing or sprinkling doth represent the sprinkling and washing which is wrought within us: the water doth signify the blood of Christ. If we were nothing else but soul, he would give us his grace barely and alone, without joining it to any creature, as he doth to his angels: but, seeing our spirit is drowned in our body, and our flesh doth make our understanding dull, therefore we receive his grace by sensible things. Chrysostom saith: Aliter ego, et aliter incredulus disponitur. Ille cum, &c. 10: Hom. 7. in "I am otherwise affected than is he which believeth not.... When he heareth 1 Cor. of the water of baptism, he thinketh it is nothing else but water; but I see" not the creature only, which mine eyes do see, but also "the cleansing of my soul by the Holy Ghost. He thinketh that my body only is washed: I believe that my soul is thereby made pure and holy; and withal I consider Christ's burial, his resurrection, our sanctification, righteousness, redemption, adoption, our inheritance, the kingdom of heaven, and the fulness of the Spirit. For I judge not of the things I see by my bodily eyes, but by the eyes of my mind." When one that is unlearned, and cannot read, looketh upon a book, be the book never so true, never so well written, yet, because he knoweth not the letters, and cannot read, he looketh upon it in vain. He may turn over all the leaves, and look upon all, and see nothing; but another that can read, and hath judgment to understand, considereth the whole story, the doughty deeds, grave counsels, discreet answers, examples, promises, threatenings, the very drift and meaning of him that wrote it. So do the faithful receive the fruit and comfort by the sacraments, which the wicked and ungodly neither consider nor receive. Thus do the sacraments lead us and instruct us to behold the secret and unknown mercies of God, and to carry ourselves to the obedience of his will. And this is the other cause why sacraments were ordained. As Chrysost. in Matt. Hom. Thirdly, they are seals and confirmations of God's promise. St Paul saith: "Abraham received the sign of circumcision, as the seal of the righteousness of Rom. iv. the faith, which he had when he was uncircumcised." By these we stop the mouth of heretics. For, if they deny that our Lord Jesus Christ was delivered to death for our sins, and is risen again for our justification; we shew them our sacraments, that they were ordained to put us in remembrance of Christ, and that by the use of them we shew the Lord's death till he come. We tell them these are proofs and signs that Christ suffered death for us on the cross. Chrysostom saith: "Laying out these mysteries, we stop their mouths 11" What? Are they nothing else but bare and naked signs? God forbid. They 83. are the seals of God, heavenly tokens, and signs of the grace, and righteousness, and mercy given and imputed to us. Circumcision was not a bare sign. is not circumcision which is outward in the flesh," saith Paul,... "but the circumcision of the heart." And again: "In Christ ye are circumcised with circum- Col. ii. cision made without hands, by putting off the sinful body of the flesh, through the circumcision of Christ." Even so is not baptism any bare sign. Baptisma Ad Hebr. ejus, saith Chrysostom, etiam passio ejus est12: "Christ's baptism is Christ's passion." They are not bare signs: it were blasphemy so to say. The grace of God doth always work with his sacraments; but we are taught not to seek that grace [10 Chrysost. Op. In Epist. 1. ad Cor. Hom. vii. Tom. X. p. 51. See before, page 466, note 2, and page 515.] [1] ... μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν μυστηρίων "That Rom. ii avтoùs &πIOTоμiloμev.-Id. in Matt. Hom. lxxxii. [12 Id. in Epist. ad Hebr. cap. ix. Hom. xvi. Tom. Hom. 16. Serm. de Hom. 35. in Ambros. de Sacram. Lib. i. cap. v. Cyril. in Johan. Lib. cap. xlii. ii. in the sign, but to assure ourselves, by receiving the sign, that it is given us by the thing signified. We are not washed from our sins by the water, we are not fed to eternal life by the bread and wine, but by the precious blood of our Saviour Christ, that lieth hid in these sacraments. Bernard saith: Datur annulus ad investiendum, &c.1: “The fashion is to deliver a ring when seisin and possession of inheritance is given: the ring is a sign of the possession; so that he which hath taken it may say, The ring is nothing: I care not for it: it is the inheritance which I sought for. In like manner, when Christ our Lord drew nigh to his passion, he thought good to give seisin and possession of his grace to his disciples, and that they might receive his invisible grace by some visible sign." Chrysostom saith: In nobis non simplex aqua operatur; sed, cum accepit gratiam Spiritus, abluit omnia peccata2: "Plain or bare water worketh not in us, but when it hath received the grace of the Holy Ghost, it washeth away all our sins." So saith Ambrose also: Spiritus sanctus descendit, et consecrat aquam: “The Holy Ghost cometh down, and halloweth the water." And: Præsentia Trinitatis adest: "There is the presence of the Trinity." So saith Cyril: Quemadmodum viribus ignis aqua, &c.1: “As water thoroughly heat with fire burneth as well as the fire; so the waters which wash the body of him that is baptized are changed into divine power by the working of the Holy Ghost." So said Leo, sometimes Leon. Serm. a bishop of Rome: Dedit aquæ, quod dedit matri. Virtus enim Altissimi et obumbratio Spiritus sancti, quæ fecit ut Maria pareret Salvatorem, eadem fecit ut regeneret unda credentem5: "Christ hath given like pre-eminence to the water of baptism as he gave to his mother. For that power of the Highest, and that overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, which brought to pass that Mary should bring forth the Saviour of the world, hath also brought to pass that the water should bear anew or regenerate him that believeth.' 5. de Nativ. Dom. Such opinion had the ancient learned fathers, and such reverend words they used, when they entreated of the sacraments. For it is not man, but God, which worketh by them; yet is it not the creature of bread or water, but the soul of man that receiveth the grace of God. These corruptible creatures need it not: we have need of God's grace. But this is a phrase of speaking. For the power of God, the grace of God, the presence of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, the gift of God, are not in the water, but in us. And we were not made because of the sacraments; but the sacraments were ordained for our sake. Now for the number of sacraments, how many there be; it may seem somewhat hard to say, and that it cannot be spoken without offence. For men's judgments herein have swerved very much: some have said there are two; others three; others four; and others that there are seven sacraments. This difference of opinions standeth rather in terms than in the matter. For a sacrament, in the manner of speaking which the church useth, and in the writings of the holy scripture and of ancient fathers, sometimes signifieth properly every such sacrament which Christ hath ordained in the new testament, for which he hath chosen some certain element, and spoken special words to make it a sacrament, and hath annexed thereto the promise of grace: sometimes it is used in a general kind of taking, and so every mystery set down to teach the people, and many things, that indeed and by special property be no sacraments, may nevertheless pass under the general name of a sacrament. [...datur ad investiendum de hæreditate aliqua, et signum est, ita ut jam dicere possit qui accipit: Annulus non valet quicquam, sed hæreditas est quam quærebam. In hunc itaque modum appropinquans passioni Dominus de gratia sua investire curavit suos, ut invisibilis gratia signo aliquo visibili præstaretur.-Bernard. Op. Par. 1690. In Con. Dom. Serm. 2. Vol. I. Tom. III. col. 890.] [Chrysost. Op. Par. 1718-38. In Joan. Hom. xxxvi. Tom. VIII. p. 207.] [3 Non sanat aqua, nisi Spiritus descenderit, et aquam illam consecraverit &c.-Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. De Sacram. Lib. 11. cap. v. 15, 8. Tom. II. col. 352, 3. See before page 466, note 10.] [4 ...ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον τὸ ἐν τοῖς λέβησιν ἐκχεόμενον ὕδωρ ταῖς τοῦ πυρὸς ὁμιλῆσαν ἀκμαῖς τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν ἀναμάττεται, οὕτω διὰ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ένεργείας τὸ αἰσθητὸν ὕδωρ πρὸς θείαν τινὰ καὶ ἄῤῥητον ἀναστοιχειοῦται δύναμιν. Cyril. Alex. Op. Lut. 1638. Comm. in Joan. Evang. Lib. II. cap. i. Tom. IV. p. 147.] [ Leon. Magni Op. Lut. 1623. In Nativ. Serm. v. cap. v. col. 52. See before, page 455.] The sacraments instituted by Christ are only two, the sacrament of baptism, and of our Lord's supper, as the ancient learned fathers have made account of them. St Ambrose, having occasion of purpose to entreat of the sacraments, speaketh but of two. De sacramentis, saith he, quæ accepistis, sermonem adorior: Lib. i. de "I begin to speak of the sacraments which you have received." And yet in his whole treatise, divided into six books, he writeth but of two: his book is extant; if any man doubt this, he may see it. Sacram. cap. Catechum. ix. de Doct. St Augustine reckoneth them to be but two: Hæc sunt ecclesiæ gemina sacra- De Symb. ad menta: "These be the two sacraments of the church." Again he saith: Quæ- Lib. iii. cap. dam pauca pro multis, eademque factu facillima, &c.8: "Our Lord and his apostles Christ. have delivered unto us a few sacraments instead of many; and the same in doing most easy, in signification most excellent, in observation most reverend; as is the sacrament of baptism and the celebration of the body and blood of our Lord." Thus Augustine and Ambrose, unto whom I might also join other ancient fathers, reckon but two sacraments. Let no man then be offended with us for so doing: we do no new thing, but restore the ordinance of Christ, and keep the example of the holy fathers. What then? Do we refuse confirmation, penance, orders, and matrimony? Is there no use of these among us? do we not allow them? Yes. For we do confirm, and teach repentance, and minister holy orders, and account matrimony, and so use it, as an honourable state of life. We visit the sick among us, and anoint them with the precious oil of the mercy of God. But we call not these sacraments, because they have not the like institution. Confirmation was not ordained by Christ: penance hath not any outward element joined to the word: the same may be said of orders. And matrimony was not first instituted by Christ; for God ordained it in paradise long before. But in these two we have both the element and the institution. In baptism the element is water; in the Lord's supper bread and wine. Baptism hath the word of institution: "Teach Matt. xxviii. all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." The Lord's supper in like manner hath the word of institution: "Do this Luke xxii. in remembrance of me." Therefore these two are properly and truly called the sacraments of the church; because in them the element is joined to the word, and they take their ordinance of Christ, and be visible signs of invisible grace. Now, whatsoever lacketh either of these, it is no sacrament. Therefore are not the other five, which are so reckoned, and make up the number of seven, in due signification and right meaning taken for sacraments. For in such sort as these are called sacraments, that is, because they signify some holy thing, we shall find a great number of things which the godly-learned fathers have called sacraments; and yet, I trow, we must not hold them as sacraments ordained to be kept and continued in the church; for then should there be not seven, but seventeen sacraments. Dom. Resur. Doin. St Bernard calleth the washing of the apostles' feet a sacrament: Ablutio pe- Serm.de Con. dum sacramentum est quotidianorum peccatorum: "The washing of fect is the sacrament of daily sins." So Leo calleth the cross of Christ a sacrament: Crux... Christi, quæ salvandis est impensa fidelibus, et sacramentum est, [et] exem- Serm. 2. de plum 10: "The cross of Christ, which was given to save the faithful, is both a sacrament, and also an example." Tertullian calleth the whole state of christian faith religionis christianæ sacramentum11, "the sacrament of christian religion." Lib. iv. contr. St Hilary in divers places saith: Sacramentum orationis, sacramentum esuritionis, [ Ambros. Op. De Sacram. Lib. 1. cap. i. 1. Tom. II. col. 349.] [7.statim manavit sanguis et aqua, quæ sunt ecclesiæ gemina sacramenta. August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. De Symb. Serm. ad Catechum. cap. vi. 15. Tom. VI. col. 562. The Benedictine editors doubt whether this discourse be really Augustine's.] [...quædam, &c. et intellectu augustissima, et observatione castissima, ipse Dominus et apostolica tradidit disciplina: sicuti est baptismi sacramentum, et celebratio corporis et sanguinis Domini.-Id. De Marcion. |