Now in the Lord’s supper bread and wine represent the very body and blood of Christ. The reason hereof is this. As bread nourisheth and strengtheneth man, and giveth him ability to labour; so the body of Christ, eaten by faith, feedeth and satisfieth the soul of man, and furnisheth the whole man to all duties of godliness. As wine is drink to the thirsty, and maketh merry the hearts of men; so the blood of our Lord Jesus, drunken by faith, doth quench the thirst of the burning conscience, and filleth the hearts of the faithful with unspeakable joy. But? in the action of the supper the bread of the Lord is broken, the wine is poured out. For
[5 inscribuntur, Lat.] [6 a name: their, not in Lat.] [7 Rather, he cleanseth. ] [3 Rather, poureth on.] [9 Rather, Therefore. Ergo, Lat.]]
the body of our Saviour was broken, that is, by all means afflicted, and his blood gushed and flowed plentifully out of his gaping wounds. And we ourselves truly do break with our own hands the bread of the Lord; for we ourselves are in fault that he was torn and tormented. Our sins wounded him, and we ourselves crucified him; that is to say, he was crucified for us, that by his death he might deliver us from death. Furthermore, we take the bread into our hands, we likewise take the cup into our hands, because he said, “Take ye, eat ye; take ye, and divide it among you.” Neither do we lay them aside or hide them, neither do we! give them forthwith to others: but when we have received them, we eat and drink them, swallowing them down into our bodies; then afterward, we do communicate and offer them to other. For they, which lawfully celebrate the Lord’s supper, do not only believe that Christ suffered, or that he suffereth, for other and not for them; but they believe that Christ suffered for themselves; they believe that Christ doth, and as it were, hath already communicated all his gifts most liberally unto them. Therefore, as the sustenance of bread and wine, passing into the bowels, is changed into the substance of man’s body; even so Christ, being eaten of the godly by faith, is united unto them by his Spirit; so that they are one with Christ, and he one with them. And as meat plentifully prepared, daintily dressed, and only seen upon the table, doth not asswage hunger; so, if thou hear Christ reverently preached unto thee, and dost not believe that Christ with all his good gifts is thine, neither the word though reverently preached, nor yet the board though abundantly stored, do profit thee anything. And it maketh much to the reconciling, renewing, and maintaining of friendship, that we are all partakers of one bread, that we offer bread to our brethren, and that we drink of the cup which we receive at our brethren’s hand. For upon no other cause the ancient fathers seem to call the supper Synaxis, η͵, Synaxis, a communion. But of that we will speak somewhat elsewhere. And this much have I brought for example sake touching the analogy of the sign and thing signified, and would say more, but that I trust to them that be diligent this is sufficient; for I have ministered occasion to think upon, and to find out more and greater things.
[1 modo, Lat. omitted: only.] [2 magnifice, Lat.]]
By this short treatise touching the analogy I think it is plain, that? sacraments stir up and help the faith of the godly, For whiles our mind comprehendeth and considereth the benefits of God, Christ his blessing, our redemption, and other his good gifts; while it enjoyeth them with great pleasure of the spirit; whiles in them it is glad and rejoiceth; sacraments are now also outwardly given, which do visibly represent those things to our eyes, and as it were make them to enter into all our senses’, which the mind inwardly comprehendeth, considereth, and meditateth upon. For because the whole action, which consisteth of the words and the rite or ceremony, is counted with the sign; our eyes see the signs and all things which are done in the whole action of the signs; all which do as it were speak: our ears hear the words and institutions of Christ: yea, our very touching and tasting, they also do feel and perceive how sweet and good the Lord is: so that now the whole man, as it were both body and soul, caught up into heaven, doth feel and perceive that his faith is stirred up and holpen, and, to be short, that the fruit of faith in Christ is passing sweet and comfortable. ΑἸ] these things have place in them that believe. In them that believe not the signs remain, as they are, without life. Therefore these things are brought to pass by the virtue or power of faith and of the Spirit working in the lawful use of the sacraments: without faith and the Holy Ghost they are not felt or perceived.
There is not unlike efficacy or force also in the preaching of the word of God. For when this word by parables, by examples, and by description, is set forth to the hearers, if the Spirit and faith shine in their mind, by these they seem not only to hear things expounded, but to see them with their eyes. In consideration whereof I think Paul said: “Ὁ foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not believe the truth; to whom Jesus Christ was described? before your eyes, and among you crucified?” For it is certain, that Christ was nowhere either described or crucified among the Galatians. He speaketh therefore of his plainness of preaching the word, whereby things indeed are shewed; but
[3 Rather, how, in what way: quomodo, Lat.] [ Rather, which meeting our eyes, and so likewise all our senses,]
[visibly represent those things, which the mind, &e.] [> depictus, Lat.: Erasmus’ rendering. ] [6 pictum, Lat.]]
yet with such force and efficacy, as if they were in a manner laid before their eyes. There is the same reason also in sacraments, which for that cause were called of them of old “visible words.” ad Of these things in this manner entreateth Zuinglius in faith. his book Ad Principes Germanic contra Eggium, saying: “Doth not a faithful man desire, when he feeleth his faith to fall’, to be upholden and restored to his place? And where in the whole world shall he hope to find that more conveniently, than in the very actions of the sacraments, so much as belongeth to all sensible things? For let it be, that all creatures allure and provoke us to the contemplation or beholding of God’s majesty; yet all that their allurement or provoking is dumb: but in the sacraments there is a lively provoking and speaking allurement. For the Lord speaketh, and the elements also speak; and they speak and persuade that to our senses, which the word and Spirit speaketh to our mind. Howbeit, hitherto all these visible things are nothing, unless the sanctification of the Spirit go before2” These things he handleth more at large, first in his annotations upon the 27. cap. of Jeremy?; and afterward, In Exzpositione Fidei ad regem Christianum?,
Furthermore, we read that St Augustine, disputing against the Manichees, Lib. XIX. contra Faustum, cap. 11, said: “” Men cannot be gathered together into any name of religion, either true or false, unless they be knit together in some fellowship of visible signs or sacraments, &c.” We acknow-
[1 So also ed. 1584: but 1577, like to fall.] [2 Nonne cupit (fidelis), ubi fidem labi senserit, fuleiri et in locum]
[restitui ἢ Id autem ubi gentium commodius, quam in ipsa sacra-]
[mentorum actione inventurnm sperare poterit, quantum ad omnia]
[sensibilia attinet? Esto enim, omnes creature invitent nos ad nu-]
[minis contemplationem; at omnis ea invitatio muta est: in sacra-]
[mentis vero viva et loquens est invitatio. Loquitur enim Dominus,]
[loquuntur et elementa: atque idem loquuntur et suadent sensibus,]
[quod menti sermo et Spiritus. Adhuc tamen hae visibilia omnia]
[nihil sunt, ni invisibilis sanctificatio Spiritus preecedat.—Zuing. Opp.]
[Tom. 11. fol. 547. Tigur. [3 Ibid. Tom. mr. fol. 363.] [4 Ibid. Tom. 11. fol. 551.] [5 In nullum autem nomen religionis seu verum seu falsum coagu-]
[lari homines possunt, nisi aliquo signaculorum vel sacramentorum]
[visibilium consortio colligentur.—August. contra Faust. Opp. Tom. VI]
[fol. 72. col. 1. Par. 1531.]]
ledge this opinion of St Augustine, fetched from the scriptures, doth teach touching the sacraments, that we by them are gathered and knit together into the unity of the body of Christ, and are separated from all other religions, fellowships, and assemblies: and more too we are bound by them, as by an oath, to the true worship of one God, and unto one sincere religion; to the which we openly profess that we agree and give our consent with all them that are partakers of the sacraments. Where this chiefly is to be marked; that the gathering or knitting together into the unity of the body of Christ hath a double respect. For either we are joined with Christ, that he is in us, and we live in him; or else we are coupled with all the members of Christ, to wit, with Christ’s faithful servants, I mean, with the catholic church itself. Furthermore, we are knit together with Christ in spirit and faith. But we are joined to the church, or to the members of Christ, by the unity of faith and of the Spirit, and by the bond of charity. All which verily are the inward gifts of the Spirit, which freely are bestowed on us by the Lord only, not by any creatures, not by any elements. Sacraments therefore do visibly graff us into the fellowship of Christ and his saints, who were invisibly graffed by his grace before we were partakers of the sacraments: but by receiving of the sacraments, we do now open and make manifest of whose body we should be?, and are, members; the Lord with his signs or marks by his minister also visibly marking us for his own household, and for his own people. Which thing by the scriptures we will more fully open and make manifest.
They who in time past, by the force of the covenant, by the grace, mercy, and promise of God, were the people of God, were by circumcision visibly gathered together into one church, and knit together into one body. For the apostle St Paul saith unto the Ephesians: Wherefore remember, that ye being in time passed gentiles in the flesh, called uncircumcision of them which are called circumcision in the flesh made with hands; that at that time, I say, ye were without Christ, and were aliants from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, &c.” Whereby
[6 So also ed. 1584: but 1577, rightly, We acknowledging this]
[opinion, &c. do teach touching, &ec.] [7 So also ed. 1584: but 1577, we would be: esse velimus, Lat.]]
it is also easily understood, how the Jews by circumcision were distinguished from other religions and fellowships, and that circumcision in another place for this cause is put for them that are circumcised, and why the name of uncircumcised was reproachful: for those that were uncircumcised were counted for ungodly and unclean persons, that had no fellowship, nor part, or inheritance, with God and his saints. Of baptism, which was ordained in the stead of circumcision, something is spoken in my former sermons. And also the apostle setteth it out most plainly: “As the body,” saith he, “is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, which is one, though they be many, yet are but one body; even so is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” We are therefore knit together by the sacrament of baptism - into the unity of the body of Christ; so that to have broken this bond, and to yield ourselves into another fellowship of religion and brotherhood, may worthily be called sacrilege and treason. Hereunto the apostle seemed to have respect when he asked the Corinthians: “Are ye not baptized into the name of Christ?” declaring thereby, that they which are baptized into the name of Christ have openly sworn and bound their faith before the church of Christ, so that now they neither can nor ought to rejoice in any other name than in the name of Christ, into whose household they are received by baptism. So, I say, we are separated by baptism from all other religions, and are only consecrated to christian religion. of He hath the like place in all points touching the supper Οἱ the Lord, 1 Corinth. chap. x. For when the apostle would es declare to the Corinthians, that it is a thing far from all godliness, unseemly, yea, and sacrilegious, that Christians should eat in the idols’ temples things offered to idols, and be partakers of the gentiles’ sacrifices, reasoning from the manner and nature of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, he saith: “Fly from idolatry; I speak as unto them that have understanding; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we that are many are one bread, and one body, because we are all partakers of one bread. Behold Israel
which is after the flesh; are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? That the idol is any thing? or that that which is sacrificed unto idols is any thing? Nay, but rather this I say, that those things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with the devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of the devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lords table, and of the table of devils, &c.” For all this is Paul’s saying; which since it serveth notably to our purpose and is very plain, I will but briefly run over it.
First, he layeth down the state and scope of the matter, whereunto heimmediately directeth his whole discourse. “Flee,” saith he, “idolatry.” And he meaneth by the word, idolatry,” whatsoever pertaineth to idolatry, especially the eating of meat offered to idols. But if you know not what idolothytum is (which word he there useth!), understand that it is a Greek word, which Paul useth in this case; and it signifieth a thing sacrificed to an idol, or a thing publicly in sacrifice consecrated to an idol. And it was the manner of the Corinthians to sacrifice at the altars of their gods in idol-houses, that is to say, in their idol-temples, and to call Christians unto those their sacrifices: and they, when they came, sat and ate of that which was offered unto idols, eating without difference with the idolaters, thinking they might have done that without any fault at all; because by the bright shining of the gospel it appeared, that neither the idol, neither that god whom the idol represented, and therefore also the things themselves that were offered to idols, were nothing else but vain names and things of no price or estimation. But Paul, disputing against these from the eighth chap. unto the eleventh, teacheth, that it is far wide from Christianity to be partakers of the gentiles’ sacrifices, and saith: I will speak unto you as unto them that have discretion; that, after I have shadowed out unto you which way to walk, you by the sharpness of your wit may understand what is true and what is false, and, to be short, which way you must incline. And then he scattereth certain grounds of arguments, which they afterward discussing might by their diligence polish and make perfect. They, saith he, that are partakers of the supper of the Lord
[1 The parenthesis is the Translator’s.]
(in which the bread of the Lord is broken, and the cup of the Lord is drunken) are of the same communion, fellowship, or body with the Lord. For κοινωνία, which word Paul useth here, and which interpreters have translated communion or partaking (though fellowship is better than partaking; as in the Dutch translation “Gemeind” is better than Gemeind-chafft1”), is not taken actively (as I may so say), for the distributing, giving, or reaching out Christ’s body by the minister; but passively, for the fellowship and society, for the body, I say, of the church: as when the church is called a communion, that is, an assembly, a gathering together and society of saints or godly Christians? Furthermore, the church is called κοινωνία, or a communion, of the body and blood of Christ, because it is redeemed by the body and blood of Christ, and, being partaker of Christ, liveth by him. For he liveth in the godly Christians, communicating unto them all his good gifts of life. And that the partakers of the supper of the Lord are the body and communion of Christ, he declareth by a reason which followeth, saying: Because we, that are many, are one bread and one body.” Whereunto by and bye he addeth another more evident reason, for interpretations sake, saying: “For we are all partakers of one bread.” In that we are partakers of one bread, saith he, we do openly testify that we are partakers of the same body with Christ and all his saints: in which words he hath a notable respect to the analogy. “For as by uniting together of many grains,” as Cyprian saith, “is made one bread or one loaf; as of many clusters of grapes one wine is pressed out: so out of many members groweth up and is made the body of the Church, which is the body of Christ.”
Now in the words of Paul these things offer themselves unto us to be marked. First, for that now he calleth that a
[1 Luther’s Version has gemeinschafft.] [2 or godly Christians, the Translator’s addition. ] [3 So also ed. 1584: but 1577, or: aut, Lat.] [ Nam quando Dominus corpus suum panem vocat de multorum]
[granorum adunatione congestum, populum nostrum, quem portabat,]
[indicat adunatum: et quando sanguinem suum vinum appellat, de]
[botris atque acinis plurimis expressum atque in unum coactum, gregem]
[item nostrum significat, commixtione adunatse multitudinis copulatum.]
[—Cyprian. Opp. Ep. LIX. p. 182.]]
multitude, or many, by a word expressing his mind better, which before he named a communion. A communion therefore is nothing else but a multitude or congregation. For he said, “The bread is the partaking of the body of Christ:” but now he saith, “We being many are one bread, one body.” “We being many,” saith he; that is, all we which are a multitude and a congregation or church, redeemed by the body of Christ (which was) given, and by his blood (which was) shed for us. Afterwards he saith, We being many are one body:” he doth not say, are made one body. For we are not first graffed into the body of Christ (as we have often repeated already) by partaking of the sacraments; but we, which were before engraffed by grace invisibly, are now also visibly consecrated. Again, by the like reason of sacraments, or by an example of the scripture taken from the sacraments of the people of the old Testament, he sheweth, that the partakers of the sacraments are one body, both with him to whom they offer, and with them with whom they offer, or with whom they eat of things offered to idols. Behold,” saith he, “the Israelites, which offer sacrifices after the flesh. Are not they that eat the sacrifices κοινωνοὶ, that is to say, communicants, fellows, or partakers of the things of the temple or of the altar?” For under the word, of the things of the temple or of the altar (θυσιαστήριον is his word), he comprehendeth whatsoever doth belong to the worship and religion of the God of the Jews; so that the sense or meaning may be this: Are not all they one body, one communion, one people, both with the God of Israel and with his people, which eat of the sacrifices offered to the God of Israel by the Israelitish people? As if he had said: There is none that is ignorant of it, or that can deny it, since it is confessed and manifest among all men. By these things he leaveth to the Corinthians of their own accord thus much to be gathered: Therefore they, that are partakers of the sacraments of the Gentiles, are one body and one fellowship with the gods of the Gentiles and the Gentiles which do sacrifice. Now by the figure occupatio (which is, when in answering we prevent an objection that may be made) he placeth these words between: “What say I then? That the idol is anything? Or, that that which is offered in sacri-
[5 of the things, not in Lat. ] [6 This parenthetical explanation is the Translator’s.] 22 [BULLINGER, 1V.]]
fice to idols is any thing’?” Whereunto by and bye he gddeth: But this I say? that the things, which the Gentiles offer in sacrifice, they offer to devils? and not to God.” Here-ypon he might lawfully have inferred: Therefore, if you continue to be partakers of things offered to idols, ye shall verily be one body and one fellowship both with the devil himself and all his members. But because this might have been taken of many to have been bitterly spoken, he addeth another saying somewhat more mild and gentle, and saith: “And I would not that ye should be κοινωνοὶ,” that is, communicants, or partakers, and have fellowship with devils.” After which words, by comparing the contrary parts, he bringeth in the sum of the whole matter, to which he directed all his reasons, and saith: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” And so forth. The sacraments therefore do separate us from all other worshippings and religions, and do bind and consecrate, yea, and also as it were make us of the same body with one true God and sincere Christian religion; because we, being partakers of them, do openly profess that we be the members of Jesus Christ: which no man that is well in his wits will take, and make them the members of fornication and of idols. οἱ That which Zuinglius, that learned man, hath In Ezposi- tione fidet Christiane ad Regem Christianwm, is not impertinent to this purpose. ‘ Sacraments,” saith he, “are instead of an oath. For sacramentum with the Latins is used also for an oath. For they that use one and the self-same sacraments are one peculiar nation, and an holy sworn congregation; they are knit together into one body and into one people; whom whoso betrayeth shall perish. Therefore the people of Christ, since by eating his body sacramentally they are knit into one body; now he that is faithless, and yet dare be so bold as to make himself one of this society or fellowship, betrayeth the body of Christ, as well in the head as in the members, &e.”” Thus far he.
[1 Rather, But I do not say this because the idol is worth any]
[thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to an idol has any divine]
[majesty about it.] (2 sentio, Lat.] [3 diabolo, Lat.] [4 acerbius, Lat.: too bitterly. ] [5 Septima sacramentorum vis est, quod vice jusjurandi sunt.]
By this it is easy to understand, that sacraments put us in mind of our duty: especially if we mark in the writings of the apostle how considering the manner of sacraments the apostles frame their exhortations. Where again the analogy being considered, it hath very much light and force in it. Trees are pruned, and all that which is dry, barren, and superfluous in them is cut away. And so by circumcision, they that were circumcised were put in mind to cut away with the knife of the Spirit whatsoever grew up in the flesh? against the law of God. Hereunto had Moses respect when he said in Deut.: Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.” Whom Jeremy following in the iv. chap. saith: “Be ye circumcised in the Lord? and cut away the foreskin of your hearts,” &c. Those things, which the apostle hath taught touching the celebration of the passover, are more plain than that they need here to be rehearsed; and I have already entreated of them at large in the sixth sermon of my third decade. The very same apostle, in his epistle to the Romans, saith: “Know ye not, that all we, which have been baptized into Jesus Christ, have been baptized into his death? We are buried then with him by baptism into his death; that likewise as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life,” &c. So we are put in mind by the mystery of baptism to renounce and forsake Satan and the world, to mortify and subdue the flesh, and to bury the old Adam, that the new man may rise up again in us through Christ. Furthermore, the supper of the Lord doth admonish us of brotherly love and charity, and of the unity that we have with all the members of Christ. It warneth us also of purity and sincerity in faith, that, because we have openly professed that we
[Nam et sacramentum Latinis pro jurejurando usurpatur. Qui enim]
[unis eisdemque sacramentis utuntur, una eademque gens ac sancta]
[quzedam conjuratio fiunt; in unum corpus, inque populum unum coeunt:]
[quem qui prodit, perjurus est. Populus ergo Christi cum ejus corpus]
[sacramentaliter edendo in unum corpus conjungitur, jam qui perfidus]
[est, attamen 5656 huic societati audet insinuare, corpus Christi prodit]
[tam in capite quam in membris.—Zuingl. Christ. Fid. Expos. Opp.]
[Tom. 11. fol. 556.] [6 apostolorum, Lat.: the apostles.] [7 ex carne, Lat.: from the flesh. ] [8 Domino, Lat.: to the Lord.] 22—2]
are united to Christ and to all his members, we should have a special care and regard, that we be not found faithless and untrue to our Lord Christ and his church; that we should not defile ourselves with foreign and strange sacrifices. We are also admonished of thankfulness, to magnify the grace of God Who hath redeemed us, according to that saying: As often as ye shall eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye shall shew forth his death until he come.”
Thus far have I entreated of the force, the end, and the effect of sacraments; unto the which I have, as I think, attributed no more nor no less than I ought, that is, as much as may be proved out of the scripture to be due unto them. They are the institutions of Christ; therefore they care not for counterfeit and strange praises. They have praise sufficient, if they have those praises, which he that instituted them, namely God, and Christ Jesus, the high priest of the catholic church, vouchsafed to attribute unto them.
Now, because there is mention made very oft of faith in this whole book, I will further shew also that without faith saeraments profit nothing; and again, that to those which receive them by faith they are not superfluous or vain: for this seemeth as yet to belong to the full exposition and consideration of sacraments. That sacraments without faith profit not, it is easily proved. For it is said, that sacraments are seals of the preaching of the gospel, and things appertaining to the same. For? if the preaching of the gospel be heard without faith, it doth not only profit nothing unto life, but it turneth rather unto judgment, (to him that heareth); the Lord himself bearing witness, and saying: “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” To that saying of the Lord agreeth this of the apostle: “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto the fathers: but the word which they heard did not profit them, because it was not coupled with faith to them that heard” Who now is such a dorhead which cannot gather, that sacraments without faith are unprofitable; especially since the same apostle saith,
[1 So also ed. 1584: but 1577, the Lord’s death: mortem Domini,]
[Lat.] [2 Cweterum, Lat.: But.] [5 Erasmus’ Version. ]]
“” Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord?” But all our worthiness before God doth consist in faith; the same apostle yet again witnessing out of the prophet, “The just shall live by faith:” and, “By faith the elders (or fathers) obtained a good report.” Whereunto also belongeth that which is read in the gospel: “They which were bidden were not worthy:” whereupon it followeth, that worthiness consisteth in faithful obedience. Hereunto also may be referred (I think) those examples, whereof mention hath been made more than once already before: All our fathers were baptized, and did all eat of one spiritual meat; but in many of them God had no delight.” And Paul again saith: “Without faith it is impossible to please God: therefore without faith sacraments profit nothing. The examples of Simon Magus and Judas the traitor are very well known; of which one was baptized, the other admitted to the supper, and yet had no fruit of the sacraments, because they wanted true faith.
To these pithy and divine testimonies of God we will now add some places of St Augustine. Out of his nineteenth book against Faustus, and twelfth chapter: Peter saith, Baptism saveth us; and lest they should think the visible sacrament were sufficient, by which they had the form of godliness, and through their evil manners, by living lewdly and desperately, should deny the power thereof, by and bye he addeth: Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but in that a good conscience maketh request to God%’” Again, Lib. ii Contra Literas Petiliani, cap. 7, he saith: “They are not therefore to be thought to be in the body of Christ, which is the church or congregation, because they are corporally partakers of his sacraments. For they in such are also holy; but to them that use and receive them unworthily they shall be forcible to their greater judgment. For they are not in that society of Christ’s church, which in the members of Christ,
[[ Sic et vos, inquit (apostolus Petrus), simili forma baptisma]
[salvos facit. Et ne 5101 sufficere putarent visibile sacramentum, per]
[quod habebant formam pietatis, et per malos mores perdite vivendo]
[virtutem ejus abnegarent, continuo subjecit, Non carnis depositio]
[sordium, sed conscientize bone interrogatio.—August. contra Faust.]
[Opp. Tom. vi. fol. 72. col. 1. Par. 1531.)]
by being knit together and touching one another, do grow into the fulness of God. For that church is builded on a rock; as saith the Lord, Upon this rock will I build my church: but they build on the sand; as the Lord also saith, He that heareth my words and doth them not, I will liken him to a foolish man!” And again in his treatise upon John xiii.: “The syllables of Christ’s name and his sacraments profit nothing, where the faith of Christ is resisted. For faith in Christ and his sacraments is, to believe in him which justifieth the ungodly, to believe in the Mediator, without whose intercession we are not reconciled unto God” Thus far Augustine.
An objection is made: If sacraments do nothing profit without our faith, then they depend on our worthiness or unworthiness; so that they are not perfect. I answer: That
among the wicked and unbelievers sacraments, verily, of themselves are sufficiently ratified and confirmed by the institution of God; neither dependeth their perfectness upon the condition and state of the partakers, that they are either better among the good, or worse among the bad. For that remaineth perfect and sound which the Lord hath instituted, and retaineth his institution always good, howsoever men vary and are faithless. For the apostle saith: Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar.” But I have
[1 Necideo putandi sunt esse in Christi corpore, quod est ecclesia,]
[quia sacramentorum ejus corporaliter participes fiunt. Illa enim et]
[in talibus sancta sunt, et eis indigne tractantibus et sumentibus ad]
[majus judicium valebunt. Ipsi autem non sunt in illa ecclesise]
[Christi compage, quae in membris Christi per connexum et contactum]
[crescit in incrementum Dei. Illa quippe ecclesia in petra est; sicut]
[Dominus dicit, Super hanc petram edificabo ecclesiam meam: illi]
[autem in arena sedificant; sicut idem Dominus dicit, Qui audit verba]
[mea, et non facit ea, similabo eum viro stulto.—August. cont. Lit.]
[Petil. Lib. 11. cap. 108. Opp. Tom. vir. fol. 34. col. 3.] [2 Non aliquid prosunt syllabze nominis Christi et sacramenta]
[Christi, ubi resistitur fidei Christi. Fides autem Christi est credere]
[in eum, qui justificat impium; credere in mediatorem, sine quo inter-]
[posito non reconciliamur Deo.—August. in Evang. Joan. Tract. LI.]
[Opp. Tom. 1x. fol. 79. col. 3.] [3 inter malos et infideles, Lat.: among the wicked and unbe-]
[lievers. The Translator inserts the words in the next sentence. ]]
touched this matter also somewhat before. Yet, because it is one thing to offer, and another thing to receive; God verily offereth of his goodness his bountiful gifts unto men to this end, to profit and to save them, and to make them whole, as the physician doth by ministering physic to his patient; but because that fcolish and mad man doth not acknowledge the benefit, as the sick patient which refuseth physic being ministered, the benefit which is offered doth no more profit the one, than physic not received doth good to the other; not through the default of him that offereth the benefit, or of him which ministereth physic, but through the folly of him which refuseth and will none of it. After this manner disputeth St Augustine also of this matter. For Lib. iii. De Baptismo cont. Donat. cap. 14, he saith: “It skilleth not, when the perfectness and holiness of the sacrament is in handling, what he believeth, and what manner of faith he hath, that receiveth the sacrament. Verily, it availeth very much to the way of salvation, but for the question of the sacrament it maketh no matters.” Also Contra Literas Petiliani, Lib. ii. cap. 47, he saith: “Remember, that the lewd life and corrupt manners of evil men do nothing hinder the sacraments of God, to make them not holy at all, or less holy; but that to the ungodly they are a testimony of their damnation, and not a furtherance of their salvation5.” He also, Tract. in Joan. 26, saith: “1 thou receive the sacrament carnally, it ceaseth not to be spiritual; but to thee it 15 not so.”
As easily is that objection confuted, that baptism profiteth not infants, if we still say that sacraments without faith profit
[4 Nec interest, cum de sacramenti integritate et sanctitate tracta-]
[tur, quid credat, et quali fide imbutus sit ille qui accipit sacramentum:]
[interest quidem plurimum ad salutis viam, sed ad sacramenti queestio-]
[nem nihil interest.— August. de Baptismo contra Donatist. Lib. 111.]
[cap. 14. Opp. Tom. vir. fol. 83. col. 2.] [> Memento sacramentis Dei nihil obesse mores malorum hominum,]
[quo illa vel omnino non sint, vel minus sancta sint: sed ipsis malis]
[hominibus, ut hsec habeant ad testimonium damnationis, non ad adju-]
[torium sanitatis.—Id. contra Lit. Petiliani, Lib. 11. cap. 47. Opp. Tom]
[vir. fol. 25. col. 4.] [6 Quid est, Spiritus et vita sunt? Spiritaliter intelligenda sunt.]
[Intellexisti spiritaliter? Spiritus et vita sunt. Intellexisti carnaliter?]
[Etiam sic illa spiritus et vita sunt, sed tibi non sunt.—Id. in Evang.]
[Joan. Tract. xxvi. Opp. Tom. 1x. fol. 48. col. 3.]]
not; for infants have no faith. Thus they babble. We answer first, That the baptism of infants is grounded upon the free mercy and grace of God, who saith: “I will be thy Godand the God of thy seed;” and again: “Suffer children to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of God,” &c. Infants therefore are numbered and counted of the Lord himself among the faithful; so that baptism is due unto them, as far forth as it is due unto the faithful. For by the imputation of God infants are faithful; whereunto pertaineth this saying of our Saviour: “He that shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me,” &e. For he manifestly calleth little ones” believing; for imputation’s sake, doubtless, not for confession, which by no means as yet is in little ones. To this also may be added, that the father of the infant doth therefore desire to have his child signed with the mark of the people of God, to wit, baptism, because he believeth the promises of God, that is, that his infant is of the household of God; therefore there is faith in the baptism of infants, Dut the father doth not believe. Be it so; yet that is no hinderance to the infant; for in the faith of the church he is brought to be baptized. The church, verily, believeth that infants ought to be brought to the Lord; the church believeth that they are of the household and people of God: therefore she commandeth them to be partakers of the mysteries. So that again, in the baptism of infants a man may find faith, Hereunto doth St Augustine 2 add this, saying, Lib. i. De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione, cap. 19: “Wherefore infants are rightly called faithful, because they after a sort do confess their faith by the words of them that bear them.” He reasoneth more touching this matter in his epistle to Boniface, which is in order the three and twentieth? where he that desireth may find more.
But all these things, say they, prove not that infants have faith of their own; for the faith of their parents, of their bearers, or the faith of the church, is another’s faith, and not theirs. Be it so. Yet most certain is that saying, that the Lord counteth infants among his, that is, among the faithful; so that now they are not only baptized in another’s faith, but in their own, that is to say, which it pleaseth the
[1 — recte fideles vocantur (parvuli), quoniam fidem per verba ges-]
[tantium quodammodo profitentur.—Id. Opp. Tom. vir fol. 136. col. 4.] [3 Id. Opp. Tom. 1. fol. 17, &c.]]
Lord to impute unto them. Furthermore, that is not another’s, which is common to the self-same body: but infants are in the very same body of the church, whereby that which is the church’s is their own, and not another’s. Neither can any man easily tell what motions of the Holy Spirit infants have beside, &c. For insomuch as they are of God, they have the Spirit of God; “and whoso have not, they are not of God,” Rom. viii.
As they decline too much to the left hand, which are persuaded that sacraments, yea, without faith, do profit the receivers; so they go too far wide on the right hand, who think that the sacraments are superfluous to them that have faith. Faith, say they, doth fully acquit us; so that after we have faith sacraments can increase nothing in us: therefore it must needs be that they are unprofitable. Such in times past are the heretics Messaliani read to have been, who were both called Euchite?, and ἐνθουσιασταὶ, that is, divine men, forsooth, and inspired of God; for they did contend that the faithful, after they had received the Holy Ghost, had need of no sacraments. But these men are very injurious even to God himself; who instituted not his sacraments for the faithful without great cause, neither unprofitably. And, “Verily, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness, and he was counted the friend of God,” just and holy, not being void doubtless of the Holy Ghost: but he also ““received circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of faith which was before he was circumcised.” It is said to the same Abraham: Every man-child, whose foreskin shall not be circumcised, shall be cut off from my people, because he hath broken my covenant.” Truly, the angel of the Lord is ready to kill Moses, because he delayed circumcision in his children longer than was lawful, either by his own negligence, or through the fault of his Madianitish wife. What, shall there be found any more righteous and holy than the Son of God, as he which, having received the fulness of the Spirit, poureth plentifully of the same into his members? He himself being the head, yet he came to John Baptist, and requireth to be baptized of him in Jordan. And when he refused, and said, “I have need to be baptized of
[3 Mosheim. E. H. Book II. Cent. 1v. part 2. chap. 5. 24. Vol. 1.]
[p. 409. note 5, ed. Soames. See also above, page 94, note 6.]]
thee, and comest thou to me?” he heareth: “Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” Certainly righteousness giveth to every man that which is his own. Taith therefore, which is the righteousness of Christians, giveth glory to God; and believeth, that he being wonderful wise doth will well unto men; and therefore that he hath instituted nothing unprofitably, but all things for the salvation of his faithful ones. A faithful man therefore useth all the institutions of God without any reasoning or gainsaying. Neither is there any here, I think, that will say, that this deed of Christ pertaineth nothing to him, whereby undoubtedly he laid before us an example to follow. Yea, that which he himself did, he willed other also to do, when he sent his disciples forth, and said: “Go into the whole world, and preach the gospel to all creatures; baptizing them in the name of the Father,” &c. He which shall believe and be baptized shall be saved.” Where truly he joineth together both faith and baptism; which to abide upon! he would not have done, if sacraments were superfluous there, where faith is. Whereby it manifestly appeareth, that they are Wrong as far as heaven is wide, which think that sacraments are indifferent, that is to say, a thing put to our own will and choice, either to use or not to use. For as we have heard already a flat commandment concerning baptism; so the Lord, instituting and celebrating the supper, saith: “Do this in the remembrance of me.” He therefore that despiseth these commandments of God, I see not how he can have faith, whereby he should be invisibly sanctified. Hitherto belongeth now that which the faithful prince of Afthiopia confesseth, that he believed with all his heart in the Lord Jesus; yet nevertheless, as soon as he saw water, he said: Behold, here is water; what letteth me to be baptized?” He doth not say, I believe with all my heart, and I feel that I am justified and cleansed; why then should I be washed with water, having no filth remaining? Therefore, wheresoever true faith is, there sacraments are not contemned or refused, but more desired. For Cornelius the centurion also, after he had received the Holy Ghost, doth not gainsay Peter, who said: “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as
[1 So all the editions; haud dubie, Lat.]
hi VIL] OF SACRAMENTS, 347 we?” Peter was a faithful preacher of the gospel, a skilful teacher of the truth; therefore he deceiveth no man: and he teacheth us by his own deed, that faith doth then specially provoke us to be partakers of the sacraments, when it is true in the faithful. To whom Paul, his fellow-minister, agreeth, saying: “Let every one prove himself, and then let him eat of this bread, and drink of this cup:” but that proving is made by faith. Therefore not faith, but unthankfulness?, doth contemptuously reject the sacraments.
Truly I am not ignorant, that very many without the use of visible sacraments have been sanctified, and at this day also are sanctified: but none of those despised or contemned them. They were not partakers of the sacraments, being thereunto driven by necessity; as there be at this day some that are held captives under the tyranny of antichrist and the Turk, and for the time believe with their whole heart in the Lord Jesus. Therefore the examples of these or such like are no defence for them which may receive the sacraments, if they regard the ordinances of God, and set so much by them as of duty they should do. 1 will note here, for the singular benefit of the readers, St Augustine’s disputation, because it maketh notably for our purpose. He, Quast. lib. in Levit. 111. cap. 84. saith: “It is demanded not without cause, whether invisible sanctification do profit nothing without visible sacraments, wherewith a man is visibly sanetified? which without doubt is absurd. For more tolerably it may be said, that this sanctification is not without them,” than that it doth not profit, if it be without them; since in sanctification all their profit consisteth. But we must also weigh this; how it is rightly said, that without the sacraments sanctification cannot be. For visible baptism did nothing profit Simon Magus, to whom invisible sanctification was wanting: but because this invisible sanctification profited them that had it, in like manner they which were baptized received also the visible sacraments. And yet neither is it shewed, where Moses himself was sanctified with visible sacrifices or oil, who notwithstanding did visibly sanctify the priests: but who dare deny that he was invisibly sanctified, whose grace was so great, surpassing, and excellent? This also may be said of John Baptist. For he was first a baptizer, before he was seen to be [2 perfida, Lat.] [ So also ed. 1584; but 1577, regarded.]
baptized: whereupon we can deny by no means that he was sanctified; yet we do not find that that was visibly wrought in him before he came to the ministry of baptizing. This also may be verified of the thief crucified with Christ, to whom the Lord said, as he hung with him on the cross, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” For he could not have been partaker of so great felicity, unless he had been invisibly sanctified. Whereby we gather, that invisible sanctification hath been present with some, and profited them, without the visible sacraments; and that visible sanctification, which is wrought by visible sacraments, may be present without this invisible sanctification, but yet may not profit us. Yet nevertheless, the visible sacrament is not therefore to be contemned; for the contemner thereof can by no means be invisibly sanctified. Hereof it is that Cornelius and they that were with him, when they did now appear to be invisibly sanctified by the Holy Ghost poured into them, yet notwithstanding they are baptized: neither is visible sanctification, which had invisible sanctification going before it, counted superfluous.” Thus far he.
[1 Merito queeritur, utrum etiam ista invisibilis sanctificatio sine]
[visibilibus sacramentis, quibus visibiliter homo sanctificatur, pariter]
[nihil prosit? Quod utique absurdum est. Tolerabilius enim quisque]
[dixerit, sine illis istam non esse, quam si fuerit non prodesse; cum in]
[ista sit omnis utilitas illorum. Sed etiam hoc, quod sine illis ista esse]
[non possit, quomodo recte dicatur intuendum est. Nihil quippe pro-]
[fuit Simoni Mago visibilis baptismus, cui sanctificatio invisibilis defuit:]
[sed quibus ista invisibilis, quoniam affuit, profuit, etiam visibilia sacra-]
[menta perceperant similiter baptizati. Nec tamen Moyses, qui visi-]
[biliter sacerdotes sanctificabat, ubi fuerit ipse ipsis sacrificiis vel oleo]
[sanctificatus ostenditur: invisibiliter vero sanctificatum negare quis]
[audeat, cujus tanta gratia preeeminebat? Hoe et de Joanne Baptista]
[dici potest. Prius enim baptizator quam baptizatus apparuit; unde]
[eum sanctificatum nequaquam negare possumus: id tamen in eo]
[factum visibiliter non invenimus antequam ad ministerium baptizandi]
[veniret. Hoc et de latrone illo, cui secum crucifixo Dominus ait, Hodie]
[mecum eris in paradiso. Neque enim sine sanctificatione invisibili]
[tanta felicitate donatus est. Proinde colligitur, invisibilem sanctifica-]
[tionem quibusdam affuisse atque profuisse sine visibilibus sacramentis:]
[. visibilem vero sanctificationem, quee fieret per visibilia sacramenta,]
[sine ista invisibili posse adesse, non posse prodesse. Nec tamen ideo]
[sacramentum visibile contemnendum est. Nam contemptor ejus]
[invisibiliter sanctificari nullo modo potest. Hine est, quod Cornelius]
[et qui cum eo erant, cum jam visibiliter infuso sancto spiritu sancti-]
[ficati apparerent, baptizati sunt tamen, nec superflua judicata est]
With this disputation another question also hath some affinity or likeness; which is, Whether sacraments depend upon the worthiness of the ministers, and whether they be hindered in their force by the unworthiness of the ministers? Cyprian more than in one place doth contend, That they cannot baptize? which want the Holy Ghost:” which error springeth hereupon, for that he attributeth too much to the ministry of baptism. He doth think that men are purified or cleansed by baptism: so that thereby he doth gather, that an unclean person cannot purify or cleanse, and therefore not baptize; and that the baptism of an unclean person is not baptism: from whence he deriveth anabaptism, or rebaptizing. But if that holy man had rightly and religiously distinguished between power and ministry, between the sign and the thing signified, between the outward and inward sanctification; he had undoubtedly understood, that we are invisibly sanctified by the mere grace of God, and that this inward sanctification is outwardly by the ministry represented and sealed. There he might have understood, that sealed evidences may be published as well by an evil minister as by a good. God’s sacraments are to be referred to God, the author of them; who is faithful and true in all his ordinances, how false and faithless soever men be. Although Judas were a thief, yet he preached and baptized; whose doctrine and baptism was as well the doctrine and baptism of Christ, as was Peter’s and Andrew’s, James’ and John’s. And touching the perfectness and pureness both of the doctrine and baptism done by the ministry of Judas; no man ever doubted, as though they were never taught or baptized whom he taught and baptized, who in the mean while is called of the Lord himself, not a devilish man, but a very devil. For he baptized not in his own name, but in the name of Christ; he preached not his own, but the doctrine of Christ. To conclude; the Lord of his goodness, for his truth’s sake and not for Judas’ sake, wrought in the faithful; which working of
[visibilis sanctificatio, quam invisibilis jam preccesserat.— August.]
[Quzest. super Levit. Lib. 111. cap. 84. Opp. Tom. 1v. fol. 49. col. 1.] [2 So ed. 1577; the other edd. they cannot be baptized: eos]
[baptizare non posse, Lat.] [3 See especially Cyprian. Ep. Lxx. p. 189, &ec.] [1 Rather, The sacraments are God’s, and are, &c.]]
his another’s ungraciousness and maliciousness could not hinder, as at this day verily it hindereth not a whit. Truly, we must do what we can to have holy and unblameable ministers, so far forth as by our care and diligence we are able to procure and bring to pass: yea, let us deprive and disgrace them, whom we shall find to behave themselves unworthy of their function: but in the mean time, let us not doubt at all of the pureness of the sacraments, which they while they were in their office ministered unto us, that is to say, after the same manner and form as the Lord instituted. And verily, as the faithful do not fasten their minds on the elements, so neither do they on the ministers. They in all things look only up to God the author of all goodness, and to the end of those things which the Lord ordained.
St Augustine hath handled this matter very diligently, excellently well applying to these things very effectual arguments; whose words I will set down, Lib. 111. Contra Donatist. de Baptismo 3, cap. 10. “The water is not unholy,” saith he, “or defiled, over which the name of the Lord is called on, though it be called on of unholy and unclean persons; because neither the creature itself, nor yet the name, is unclean. And the baptism of Christ, consecrated with the words of the gospel, is holy, both by them that are unclean and in them that are unclean, though they be defiled and unclean; because his holiness cannot be polluted, and in his sacraments a divine power is present, either to the salvation of them that use them well, or to the condemnation of them that use them ill. Doth the light of the sun, or of a candle, when it shineth through a filthy sink, gather no uncleanness from thence; and can the baptism of Christ be polluted with any man’s wickedness? For if we apply our minds unto the very visible things under which sacraments are delivered, who knoweth not that they are corruptible? But if we ascend unto that which is figured by them, who seeth not that they be incorruptible; though men by whom it is ministered according to their deservings are either rewarded or punished!?” And so
[1 Non est aqua profana et adultera, super quam nomen Dei]
[invocatur, etiamsi a profanis et adulteris invocetur: quia nec ipsa]
[creatura, nec ipsum nomen adulterum est; baptismus vero Christi,]
[verbis evangelicis consecratus et per adulteros et in adulteris, sanc-]
[tus est, quamyis illi sint impudici et immundi; quia ipsa ejus sanc-]
I could allege many examples of this kind, if 1 necessary. For I think that by them it is largely and plainly enough declared, that the perfectness and pureness of the sacraments are not to be esteemed by the worthiness or unwor-
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