The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4 · Chapter 14
¶ The .xiiii. Chapter. Of Sacramentes,
BYside the preaching of the Gospell, an other helpe of like sort is in the Sacramētes: of which to hauehave some certaine doctrine taught, is much behouefull for vsus, wherby we may learne both to what ende they were ordeined, and what is now the vse of them. First it is mete to consider what is a Sacramente. It semeth to me that this shalbe a playne and propre definition, if we say that it is an outwarde signe, wherwith ye Lord sealeth to our cōsciences the promises of his good wil toward vsus, to susteine the weakenesse of our Faith: and we againe on our behalues doe testifie our godlinesse towarde him as well before him and the Angels as before mē. We may also with more brefenesse define it otherwise: as to call it a testimonie of Gods fauor towarde vsus confirmed by an outwarde signe, with a mutuall testifieng of our godlinesse towarde him. Whether soeuer you choose of these definitions, it differeth nothing in sense from that definition of Augustine, which teacheth that a Sacramēt is a visible signe of a holy thig, or a visible forme of inuisible grace: but it doth better and more certainly expresse ye thing it selfe. For wheras in that brefenesse there is some darknesse, wherin many of ye vnskilfuller sort are deceiued, I thought good in moe wordes to geue a fuller sentence, that there should remaine no dout.
For what reason the olde writers vsed this worde in ye sense, it is not hard to see. For so oft as the olde translater would rēder in Latine this Greke worde Mysterion mysterie, specially when diuine maters were entreated of,Eph. i.ix. & .iii.ii. he translated it Sacrament. So to the Ephesians, That he might make knowen vntounto vsus the Sacrament of his will. Againe, if yet ye hauehave heard the distribution of the grace of God, which is geuen to me in you, because according to reuelatiō the Sacrament was made knowen to me.Colos. i.xxvi. i. Tim. iii xvi. To the Colossians, The mysterie which hath ben hiddē from ages and generations, but now is manifested to his Saintes, to whom the Lord would make knowen the richesse of this Sacramente. &c. Againe to Timothee, A great Sacrament of godlinesse: God is opē ly shewed in the flesh. He would not say a secret, least he shoulde seme to say somwhat vnderunder the greatnesse of the thinges. Therfore he hath put Sacrament in stede of Secret, but of a holy thing. In that significatiō it is somtime founde amōg the ecclesiastical writers. And it is well enough knowen, that those which in Latine are called Sacramentes, in Greke are Mysteries: which expressing of one thing in twoo seuerall wordes endeth all the contention. And hereby it came to passe that it was drawen to those signes whiche had a reuerende representation of hie and spiritual thinges.Epi. v. ad. Marcel. Which Augustine also noteth in one place. It were long (sayth he) to dispute of ye diuersitie of signes, which when they perteine to diuine thinges, are called Sacramentes.
Now of this definitiō which we hauehave set, we vnderstande that a Sacrament is neuer without a promise going before it, but rather is adioined as a certaine addition hanging to it, to this ende that it should confirme and seale ye promise it selfe, and make it more approued vntounto vsus, yea after a certaine maner ratified. Which meane the Lord foreseeth to be nedefull first for our ignorance and dullnesse, and thē for our weaknesse: and yet (to speake properly) not so much to cōfirme his holy word, as to stablish vsus in the Faith therof. For the truth of God is by it selfe sounde and certaine enough, and can not frō any other where receiue better confirmation than from it selfe. But our Faith, as it is smal and weake, vnlesse it be stayed on eueryevery side, and be by al meanes vpholden, is by and by shaken, wauereth, staggereth, yea and fainteth. And herein verily the mercifull Lorde according to his great tender kindnesse tempereth himselfe to our capacitie: that, whereas we be naturall men, which alway creping vponupon the grounde and sticking fast in ye flesh, dooe not thinke nor so much as cōceiue any spiritual thing, he vouchesaueth euen by these earthly elementes to guide vsus vntounto himselfe, and in the fleshe it selfe to set fourth a mirror of spirituall good thinges. For if we were vnbodily (as Chrysostome sayth) he would hauehave geuen vsus ye very same thinges naked and vnbodily.Homel. 60. ad populum. Now because we hauehave soules putte within bodies, he geueth spirituall thinges vnderunder visible thinges. Not because there are suche giftes planted in the natures of the thinges which are set fourth to vsus in the Sacramentes: but because they were signed by God to this signification.
And this is it which they cōmonly say, yt a Sacramēt cōsisteth of the word & the outward signe. For we must vnderstande ye worde to be, not that which being whispered wtout meaning & Faith, wt onelyonly noise as it were wt a magical enchauntment hath power to cōsecrate ye element: but which being preached maketh vsus to vnderstande what the visible signe meaneth. Therfore yt which was vsually done vnderunder ye tyrānie of the Pope, was not without a great profaning of the mysteries. For they thought it inough, if the Prest, while the people stode amasedly gazing at it without vnderstanding, did mumble vp the forme of consecration. Yea they of set purpose prouided this, yt no whit of doctrine shoulde thereof come to the people: for they spake all thinges in Latine before vnlearned men. Afterwarde superstitiō brake out so farr, that they beleued that the consecration was not formally made, vnlesse it were with a hoarse whispering sounde which fewe might heare. But Augustine teacheth farr otherwise of the Sacramental worde. Let the word (sayth he) be added to the element,Hom. in Ioh. xiii and there shalbe made a Sacramēt. For whense cometh this so great strength to the water, to touch the body and washe the soule, but by the word making it? not because it is spoken, but because it is beleued. For in the very worde it selfe the sounde which passeth is one thing, and the power whiche abideth is an other. This is the worde of Faith which we preach,Ro. x.viii. Act. xv.ix. i. Pet. iii.xxi. sayth the Apostle. Wherevpon in the Actes of the Apostles it is said, by Faith cleansing their hartes. And Peter the Apostle sayth. So Baptisme also saueth vsus: not the putting away of the filthinesse of the flesh, but the examination of a good cōscience. This is the worde of Faith which we preach: by which without dout, that it may be able to cleanse, Baptisme also is halowed. You se how it riquireth preaching, wherupō Faith may growe. And we nede not to trauaile much in profe hereof, forasmuch as it is clere what Christ did, what he commaunded vsus to do, what the Apostles folowed, what the purer Chirch obserued. Yea euen from the beginning of the world it is knowen, that so oft as God offred any signe to the holy Fathers, there was added an vnseparable knot of doctrine, without which our senses should be made amased with bare beholding. Therfore whē we heare mention made of the Sacramental worde, let vsus vnderstand the promise, which being with a loude voice preached of the minister may leade the people thether as it were by the hande, whether ye signe tendeth and directeth vsus.
Neither are some to be heard which trauail to fight against this, wt a doble horned argument rather suttle than sounde. Either (say they) we know, or we knowe not, that the worde of God which goeth before the Sacrament, is the true will of God. If we knowe it, then we learne no new thing of the Sacrament which foloweth after. If we know it not, then neither wil the Sacramente teach it, whoes whole force standeth in ye worde. Wherunto let this brefely be for an answere: that the seales which are hanged at patentes and other publike instrumentes, takē by themselues are nothing, forasmuche as they shoulde be hanged in vaine if the parchemente had nothing written in it: yet they doe not therefore not confirme and seale that which is written, when they be added to writinges. Neither can they say that this similitude is lately fayned by vsus,Ro. iiii.xi whiche Paule himselfe vsed, calling Circumcisiō a seale, where he purposely trauaileth to proue, that Circumcision was not righteousnesse to Abraham, but a sealyng of that couenaunte, by faith whereof he had alredy ben iustified before. And what, I beseche you, is there that may muche offende any man, if we teache that the promise is sealed with Sacramentes, when of the promises themselues it is euidente that one is confirmed with an other? For as eueryevery one is manifester, so is it more fit to vpholde faith. But ye Sacramētes do both bring most clere promises, and hauehave this peculiar more than the worde, that they liuely represent them to vsus as it wer painted out in a table. Neither ought yt distinction any thing to moue vsus, which is wont to be obiected, betwene Sacramentes and seales of patentes: that wheras both consist of carnall elementes of this world, those can not suffice or be mete to seale the promises of God, which are spirituall and euerlasting, as these are wont to be hāged to, for sealing of the grauntes of Princes concerning fading and fraile thinges. For a faithfull man, when the Sacramentes are pr…sente before his eyes, sticketh not in that fleshly sighte, but by those degrees of proportion, whiche I hauehave spoken of, he riseth vp with godly consideration to the hie mysteries which lie hidden in the Sacramentes.
And sith the Lord calleth his promises,Gene. vi.xviii. &. ix.ix. &. xvii.xxii. couenantes: and his Sacramentes, seales, of couenantes: a similitude may wel be brought frō the couenantes of men. What can a sowe killed worke, if wordes were not vsed, yea vnlesse they wente before? For sowes are many times killed without any more inwarde or hier, mysterie. What can the geuing of a mans righte hande doe, sithe oftentimes handes are matched with enmitie? But when woordes hauehave gone before, by suche signes the lawes of leagues are stablished, althoughe they were firste conceiued, made, and decreed in woordes. Therefore Sacramentes are exercises whiche make the credit of the woorde of God certaynet vntounto vsus: and because we are carnall, they are deliuered vnderunder carnall thinges: that so they shoulde instruct vsus according to the capacitie of our dullnesse, and guide vsus by the hande as scholemaisters guide children.In Iohn. Homel. 89. Libr. 19. con. fau. For thys reason Augustine calleth a Sacrament, a visible woorde: because it representeth the promises of God as it were painted in a table, and setteth them before our sighte conningly expressed and as in an image. Other similitudes also may be broughte, whereby Sacramentes may be more plainly set out, as if we call them pillers of our Fayth. For as a bylding standeth and resteth vponupon the fundation: yet by setting vnderunder of pillers, it is more surely stablished: so▪ Faith resteth vponupon the worde of God, as vponupon a fundation: but when Sacramentes are added, it stayeth yet more soundly vponupon them as vppon pillers. Or if we call them loking glasses, in which we may beholde the richesse of the grace of God, which he geueth vsus. For (as we hauehave alredy sayd) he doth in them manifestlye shewe himselfe to vsus, so much as is geuen to our dullnesse to knowe, and doth more expressly testifie his good will and louelove towarde vsus thā by hys worde.
Neither doe they reson fittly enough to the purpose, when they labor to proue hereby that they are not testimonies of the grace of God, because they are also geuen to the wicked, whiche yet doe therby fele God nothing more fauourable to them, but rather procure to themselues more greuous damnation. For by the same argumente neither shoulde the Gospell, whiche is heard and despised of many, be the testimonie of the grace of GOD: nor yet Christ himselfe, whiche was seen and knowen of many, of whome very fewe receiued him. The lyke we may also se in patentes. For a greate parte of the multitude laugheth at and scorneth that authentike seale, howsoeuer they knowe that it proceded from the Prince to seale his will withal: some regarde it not, as a thing not perteining to them: some also abhorre it: so that considering this so egal relation of both, that same similitude which I hauehave aboue vsed, ought more and more to be liked. Therfore it is certaine that the Lorde doeth offer vntounto vsus mercy and a pledge of his grace both in his holy woorde and in the Sacramentes: but the same is not receiued but of them whiche receiue the worde and Sacramentes with sure Faith: like as Christe is offred of the Father vntounto saluation, to all, yet his is not acknowleged and receiued of all. Augustine in one place minding to declare the same, sayd that the effectualnesse of the woorde is shewed fourth in the Sacrament: not because it is spoken, but because it is beleued. Therefore Paule, when he speaketh to the faithfull, so entreateth of Sacramentes that he includeth the communion of Christe in them, as when he sayth: all ye that are Baptised,Gala iii.xxvii. i. Cor. xii.xii. hauehave put on Christ. Againe, we are all one body and one Spirite, which are Baptised in Christe. But when he speaketh of the wrongfull vse of Sacramentes, he geueth no more to it than to colde and voide figures. Whereby he signifieth, that howsoeuer the wicked and hipocrites with their peruersnesse do either oppresse or darken or hinder the effect of the grace of God in the Sacramentes, yet that withstandeth not but that where and so ofte as it pleaseth God, bothe they may bryng a true testimonie of the communicating of Christ, and the Spirite of God himselfe may deliuer and performe that which they promyse. We determine therefore that Sacramentes are truely called testimonies of the grace of God, and as it were certaine seales of the good will which he beareth toward vsus: which by sealing it vntounto vsus, doe by this meane susteine, nourishe, confirme, and encrease our faith. As for the reasons which some are wont to obiect against this sentēce, they are to tryfling and weake. They say that if our Faith be good, it can not be made better: for they say that it is no Faith, but which without shaking, stedfastly, and without withdrawing, resteth vppon the mercy of God.Luk▪ xvii.v. It had ben better for suche to pray with the Apostles that the Lorde woulde encrease their Faith, than carelesly to pretende suche a perfection of Fayth, whiche neuer any of the sonnes of men hath obteined, nor any shall obteine in thys lyfe. Lett them answer, what manner of Faith they thinke that he had which sayd:Marke. ix xxiiii. I beleue Lorde, helpe my vnbeleuingnesse. For euen that Fayth, howsoeuer it was but a begone Faith, was a good Faith, and myghte be made better when vnbeleuingnesse were taken away. But they are confuted by no certainer argument than by their owne conscience. For if they confesse themselues sinners, (whiche whether they will or no, they can not denye) they muste nedes impute the same to the imperfection of their Fayth.
But (say they) Philip answered the Eunuche, that he myghte be Baptized,Act. viii.xxxvii. if he beleued with all hys harte. What place here hath the confirmation of Baptisme, where Fayth fylleth the whole hart? Againe I aske them whether they doe not fele a good parte of their hart voide of Fayth: whether they doe not dayly acknowledge newe encreases. The heathen manne gloryed that he waxed olde with learnyng. Therefore we Christians be thrise miserable, if we waxe olde with profityng nothyng, whoes faith oughte to goe forwarde by all degrees of ages, tyll it growe into a perfect man. Therfore in this place to beleue with all the hart,Eph. iiii.xiii. is not perfectely to beleue Christe, but onelyonly from the harte and with a syncere mynde to embrace hym: not to bee full with hym, but with feruent affection to hunger, and thirste, and syghe towarde hym. This is the maner of the Scripture, to saye that that is doone with the whole harte, whiche it meaneth to be done syncerely and hartily.Psal. cxix x. et. cxi.i. &. cxxxviii i. Psal. xii.iii. Of this sorce are these sayenges: I hauehave in all my harte soughte thee: I will confesse to thee in all my harte, and suche other. As on the other syde, where he rebuketh guilefull and deceitfull men, he vseth to reproche them with hart and hart. Then they say further, that if faith be encreased by Sacramentes, the Holy ghost is geuen in vaine, whoes strength and worke it is to begyn, mainteyn, and make perfect faith. To whom in dede I graunt, that faithe is the propre and whole work of the Holy ghost, by whom beyng enlightned we knowe God and the treasures of his goodnesse, and without whoes light our mynde is so blynde, that it can see nothyng, so senslesse, that it can smell nothyng of spirituall thynges. But for one benefite of God which they set foorth, we consider three. For fyrst the Lord teacheth and instructeth vsus with his worde: then he strengtheneth vsus with sacramē tes: last of all he shineth into our myndes with the lyghte of his holye Spirite, and openeth an entrie for the woorde and Sacramentes into our hartes, whiche otherwyse should but strike our eares, and bee present before our eies, and nothyng moue the inward partes.
Wherfore as touchyng the confirmation and encrease of Faith, I wold hauehave the reader warned (which I thinke I hauehave already in plaine wordes expressed) that I do so assigne that ministerie to the sacramentes, not as though I thought that there is perpetually in them I wote not what secrete force, by which they may of themselues be able to further or confirme Faith: but because they are ordeined of the Lorde to this ende, that they shoulde serue to the stablishyng and encreasyng of Faith. But then onelyonly they do truely performe their office, when that inwarde schoolemaister the Spirite is come to them, with whoes onelyonly power bothe the hartes are pearced, and affections are moued, and the entrie is sette open for the Sacramentes into oure soules. If he be absente, Sacramentes can do no more to our myndes, than if either the brightnesse of the sunne shoulde shine vppon blynde eies, or a voice sounde to deafe eares. Therfore I so make diuision betwene the Spirite and sacramentes, that the power of working remaine with the Spirite, and to the Sacramentes be left only the ministration, yea and the same voide and triflyng without the workyng of the Spirite: but of muche effectualnesse, when he inwardly woorketh and putteth foorth his force. Nowe it is plaine in what sorte accordyng to this sentence, a godly mynde is confirmed in the faith by Sacramentes: that is to say, euen as the eies see by the brightnesse of the sunne, and the eares heare by the sounde of a voice: of whiche neither the eies should any whitte perceiue any light, vnlesse they had a sight in them selues that might naturally be enlightened: and the eares should in vaine be knocked at with any crieng whatsoeuer it were, vnlesse they wer naturally made and fitt to heare. But if it be true, whiche ought at ones to be determined among vsus, that what the sight worketh in our eies to seyng of the light, what the hearyng worketh in our eares to the perceiuyng of a voice, the same is the worke of the Holy ghost in our hartes, bothe to the conceiuyng, and susteinyng, and cherishing and stablishing of faith: then bothe these thynges do likewise folowe: that the Sacramentes do nothyng at all profite without the power of the Holy ghoste: & that nothyng withstandeth but that in hartes alredy taught of that scholemaister, they may make faith bothe stronger and more encreased. Only this difference there is, that the power of hearyng and seyng is naturally set in our eares and eyes: but Christ beside the measure of nature doth by speciall grace worke the same in our myndes.
Wherby those obiections also, which comber some men, are dissolued: That if we ascribe to creatures either the encrease or confirmation of Faith, there is wrong done to the Spirite of God, whom we ought to acknowlege the onelyonly author therof. For neither doo we in the meane tyme take from hym the praise either of confirming or encreasyng it: but rather we affirme, yt euen this that he encreseth & confirmeth faith, is nothing els but with his inward enlightning to prepare our myndes to receiue that confirming which is set foorth by the Sacraments. But if it be yet to darkly spokē, it shalbe made very clereby a similitude which I will bryng. If thou purpose with woordes to persuade a man to do any thyng, thou wilt search out all the reasons, wherby he may be drawen to thy opinion, and may be in a maner subdued to obey thy counsel. But thou haste hetherto nothyng preuailed, vnlesse he likewise hauehave a pearcyng and sharpe iudgement, whereby he may wey what pitth is in thy reasons: vnlesse also he hauehave a tractable witt & ready to harken to teachyng: finally vnlesse he hauehave conceiued such an opinion of thy faithfulnesse and wisedome, as may be to him like a certaine foreiudgemēt to cause him to subscribe. For both there are many stubborne heads, which a man can neuer bowe with any reasons: and also where credite is suspected, where authoritie is despised, little good is done euen with the willyng to learne. On the other syde lett all those thynges be present, they wyll truely bryng to passe that the hearer, to whome thou geuest counsel, will obey the selfe same counsels which otherwise he wold hauehave laughed to scorne. The same woorke also the Spirite woorketh in vsus. For least the worde should beate our eares in vayne, least the Sacramentes shoulde stryke oure eyes in vayne, he sheweth vsus that it is God which speaketh therin, he softeneth the stubbornesse of oure harte, and frameth it to the obedience which is due to the word of the Lorde. Finally he conueyeth those outward woordes and Sacramentes from the eares into the soule. Therfore both… the worde and the Sacraments do confirme our Faith, when they set before our eies the good wil of the heuenly Father toward vsus, by knowlege of whom both the whole stedfastnesse of our Faith standeth fast, and the strengthe of it encreaseth: the Spirite confirmeth it, when in engrauing the same confirmation in in our myndes he maketh it effectual. In the meane tyme the Father of lightes can not be forbidden, but as he enlightneth the bodily ei…s with the beames of the sunne, so he may enlighten our myndes with sacramentes, as with as brightnesse set meane betwene.
Whiche propretie the Lorde taught that there was in his outewarde worde,Mat. xiii.iiii. Luc. viii xv. when in the parable he called it sede. For as sede, if it fall vponupon a desert and vntilled pece of grounde, will do nothyng but die: but if it be throwen vponupon arable lande well manured and tylled, it wyll bryng foorth her fruite with very good encrease: so the word of God, if it light vponupon a stiffe necke, it will growe barrein as that whiche is sowen vponupon sande: but if it light vponupon a soule manured with the hande of the heauenly Spirite, it will be moste fruitefull. But if there be like reason of sede and of the worde: as we say that out of sede corne bothe springeth and encreaseth, and groweth vp to ripenesse: why may we not say that Faith taketh out of the worde of God bothe begynnyng, encrease, and perfection. Paule very well expresseth both these thyngs in sundry places. For when he goeth about to put the Corynthians in remembrance howe effectually God vsed his trauaile,i. Cor. ii.iiii. i. Cor. iii.vi. he glorieth that he hath the ministerie of the Spirite, as though the power of the Holy ghost wer with an vnseperable knot ioyned with his preachyng, to enlighten and thoroughly moue the mynde. But in an other place when he myndeth to admonishe them,i. Cor. iii.vi. of what force the worde of God is of it self being preached by man, he compareth the ministers themselues to husbandemen, which when they hauehave bestowed their labor and trauaile in tillyng the earth, hauehave no more to do. But what shold tillyng, and sowing, and wateryng profit, vnlesse that whiche is sowen should receiue liuetynesse by heauenly benefite? Therfore he concludeth, that bothe he that planteth and he that watereth are nothyng: but that all thynges are to be ascribed to God, whiche alone geueth the encrease. Therefore the Apostles do in their preachyng vtter the power of the Spirite, so farre as God vseth the instrumentes ordeined by hymselfe to the settyng foorth of his spirituall grace. Yet we must kepe still that distinction, that we remembre, what man is able to do by hymselfe, and what is propre to God.
Sacramentes are so confirmations of our Faith, that many tymes when the Lorde meaneth to take away the confidence of the very thynges that are by hym promysed in the Sacramentes, he taketh away the sacramentes themselues.Genes. xxxiii. When he spoyleth and thrusteth away Adam from the gifte of immortalitie, he sayth: Let him not eate of the fruite of lyfe, least he lyue for euer. What sayth he? Coulde that fruite restore to Adam his vncorruption, from which he was nowe fallen. No. But this is all one as if he had said: Least he should enioy a vaine confidēce if he kepe still the signe of my promise, let that bee shaken awaye from hym whiche myght bryng hym some hope of immortalitie. After this maner when the Apostle exhorteth the Ephesians to remēbre that they were forein gestes of the testamentes,Ephe. ii.xii. strangers from the felowship of Israell, without God, without Christ, he saith, that they were not partakers of Circumcision. Whereby he doth (by figure of transnomination) signifie that they were excluded from the promise it self, which had not receiued the signe of the promise. To their other obiection, that the glorie of God is conueyed to creatures, to whome so muche power is ascribed, and that therby it is so farre diminished, we hauehave in redynesse to answere that we set no power in creatures. OnelyOnly this we say, that God vseth meanes and instrumentes, whiche he hymselfe seeth to be expedient: that all thynges may serue his glorie, forasmuch as he is Lorde and iudge of all. Therfore as by bread and other nourishementes he feedeth our body: as by the sunne he enlightneth the world: as by fire he warmeth: yet neither bread, nor the sunne, nor fyre, are any thing but so farre as by those instrumentes he dothe distribute his blessynges vntounto vsus: so spiritually he nourisheth Faith by the Sacramentes, whose onelyonly office is to sett his promises before our eies to be loked vponupon, yea to be pledges vntounto vsus of them. And as it is our duetie to fasten none of our affiance in other creatures, which by the liberalitie and bountifulnesse of God are ordeined to our vses, and by the ministerie wherof he geueth vsus his giftes, nor to hauehave them in admiration & praise them as causes of our good: so neither ought our confidence to sticke fast in the Sacramentes, nor the glorie of God to be remoued vntounto them: but leauyng all thynges, both our Faith and confession ought to rise vp to him the author bothe of the sacramentes and of all thyngs.
Wheras some bring an argument out of the very name of a Sacrament, it is nothyng strong. A Sacrament (saye they) whereas it hath among allowed authors many significations, yet it hath but one which agreeth with the signes: that is, wherby it signifieth that solemne othe whych the soldior maketh to his capitaine when he entreth into profession of a soldior. For as by that othe of warfare newe soldiors do bynde their faith to the capitain, and professe to be his soldiors: so by our signes we professe Christ our capitaine, and do testifie that we serue vnderunder his banner. They adde similitudes to make therby the mater more playne. As a gowne made ye Romains seuerally knowen frō the Grekes which dyd weare clokes: as ye very degrees of men at Rome were discerned by their seueral signes: ye degree of Senators from the degree of knightes, by purple cote and piked shooes: againe a knyghte from a cōmoner, by a ryng: so we beare our signes that may make vsus seuerally knowen from prophane men. But by the thynges aboue said it is euident enough that the olde writers, whyche gaue to the signes the name of Sacramentes, hadde no regarde howe this woorde was vsed among Latine writers, but for theyr owne purpose fayned this newe signification, wherby they signified onelyonly holy Signes. But if wee will searche the mater more depely, it maye seme that they hauehave with the same relation applied this woorde to suche a signification, wherewith they hauehave remoued the name of Faith to that sense wherin it is nowe vsed. For wheras Faith is a truthe in performyng promises: yet they hauehave called Faith an assurednesse, or sure persuasion whiche is had of the truth it selfe. Likewise wheras a Sacrament is ye soldiors part wherby he voweth hymselfe to his capitayne: they hauehave made it the capitaynes parte, whereby he receyueth soldiors into roomes of seruice. For by the Sacramente the Lorde doothe promise that he will be oure God, and that we shall bee his people. But we passe ouer suche suttleties: forasmuche as I thynke I hauehave proued with argumentes playne enoughe, that they hadde respecte to nothyng ells but to signifie that these are Signes of holye and spirituall thynges. We receyue in deede the similitudes whyche they bryng of outwarde tokens: but we allowe not that that whyche is the last poynte in the Sacramentes, is by them set fo… the chiefe yea and onelyonly thyng. But this is the fyrste poynte, that they should serue our Faith before GOD: the later poynt that they should testifie our confession before men. Accordyng to this later consideration those similitudes hauehave place. But in the meane tyme lette that first point remaine: because otherwise (as we hauehave already proued) the mysteries should be but colde, vnlesse they were helpes to our faith, and additions to doctrine ordeined to the same vse and ende.
Agayne we must be warned, that as these men doo weaken the force, and vtterly ouerthrowe the vse of Sacramentes: so on the contrarie syde there be some, which faine to Sacramentes, I wote note what secrete vertues, whiche are no where red to be putt in them by God. By which error the simple and vnskilfull are dangerously deceiued, while they are bothe taught to seke the giftes of God where they can not bee founde, and are by little and little drawen away from God, to embrace mere vanitie in stede of his veritie. For the Sophisticall schooles hauehave taught with great consent, that the Sacramentes of the new law, that is to say those which are nowe in vse in the Christian Chirch, do iustifie and geue grace, so that we do not laie a stoppe of deadly sinne. It can not be expressed howe pernicious and pestilent this opinion is, and so muche the more, because in many ages heretofore, to the great losse of the Chirch it hath preuailed in a great part of the world: Truely it is vtterly deuelishe. For when it promiseth righteousnesse without Faith, it driueth soules hedlong into destruction: then because it fetcheth the cause of righteousnesse from the Sacramentes, it byndeth the miserable myndes of men already of their owne accorde to muche bendyng to the earth, with this superstition that they rather reste in the sighte of a bodily thyng than of God himselfe. Which two thyngs I wold to God we had not so proued in experience, so little nede they any long proofe. But what is a Sacrament taken without Faith, but the moste certaine destruction of the Chirch? For wheras nothyng is to be loked for therof without the promise, and the promise dothe no lesse threaten wrathe to the vnfaithfull, than it offreth grace to the faithfull: he is deceyued that thinketh that there is any more geuen to him by the Sacraments, than that which beyng offred by the word of God, he receiueth by Faith. Wherupon an other thyng also is gathered, that the affiance of saluation hangeth not vponupon the partakyng of the Sacrament, as though Iustification consisted therin: which we knowe to be reposed in Christ onelyonly, and to be cōmunicated vntounto vsus no lesse by the preachyng of the Gospell, than by the sealyng of the Sacramente: and that withoute that it can not wholly stande.Lib. iiii. de qu…st. ver …sta. Lib. v de bap… cō tra Dona ca. xxiiii. So true is that which Augustine also writeth, that inuisible sanctification may be without a visible signe, and agayn… that a visible signe may be without true sanctification. For (as he also writeth in an other place,) men do put on Christ somtyme vntill the receyuyng of a sacrament, sometyme euen vntil the sanctification of life. And that firste poynt may be cōmon both to good and to euill: but this other is propre to the good and godly.
Herupon cometh that distinction if it be well vnderstanded, whiche the same Augustine hath often noted, betwene a Sacrament, and the thyng of the Sacrament. For it not only signifieth, that the figure and truthe are there conteined, but that they doo not so hang together but that they may be seuered: and that euē in the very conioyning the thyng muste alwaye be discerned from the signe, that we geue not to the one that which belongeth to the other. He speaketh of the seperation, when he writeth that the Sacramentes do worke in the only elect that which they figure.De bapt. paruu. In psal. lxxvii. Agayne, when he writeth thus of the Iewes: When the sacramentes were common to all, the gra…as not common, which is the power of the Sacramentes. So no… also the washing of regeneration is common to all: but the grace it selfe, whereby the membres of Christ are regenerate with their hed, is not common to all. Agayne in an other place of the Supper of the Lord,In Iohā. homel. xxv.ii. We also at this daye receyue visible meate. But the Sacrament is one thyng, and the power of the Sacramente an other thyng. What is this, that many receiue of the altar and dye, and in receyuyng do die? For the Lordes morsell was poyson to Iudas: not because he receiued an euell thing, but because he beyng euell receiued a good thyng euelly. A little after, The sacramēt of this thyng, that is of the vnitie of the body and blood of Christe, is somewhere prepared on the Lordes table dayly, somewhere by certaine distances of dayes: and therof is receyued vntounto life to some, and vntounto destruction to some. But the thyng it selfe wherof it is a Sacrament, is receiued vntounto life to all mē, but vntounto destruction tomo mā, whosoeuer is partaker of it. And a little before he had sayd, He shall not dye whych eateth: but he which perteineth to the power of the sacrament, not to ye visible Sacramēt: which eateth within, not without: whiche eateth with hart, not he which presseth with toothe. Thus you heare eueryevery where, that a Sacrament is so seuered from his owne truthe by the vnworthinesse of the receiuer, that there remaineth nothing but a vaine and vnprofitable figure. But that thou mayst hauehave not a signe voide of truth: but the thyng with the signe, thou muste conceyue by Faith the woorde which is there enclosed. So how muche thou shalt by the Sacraments profite in communicatyng of Christ, so muche profyte shalte thou take of them.
If this be somewhat darke because of the shortenesse, I will sette it out in mo wordes. I say that Christ is the mater, or (if thou wilte) the substance of all sacramentes: forasmuche as in hym they hauehave all their perfectnesse, and do promise nothyng without hym. So muche lesse tolerable is the error of Peter Lombard, which doth expresly make them causes of righteousnesse and saluation,Lib. i. sent. dist. i. wherof they be parts. Therfore biddyng all causes farwell whiche mans witt dothe faine to it selfe, we ought to stay in this one cause. Therfore how muche we be by their ministerie holpen to the nourishyng, confirmyng, and encreasyng of the true knowlege of Christ in vsus, and to the possessyng of hym more fully, and to the enioyeng of his richesse, so muche effectualnesse they hauehave with vsus. But that is don when we do with true faith receiue that which is there offred. Do the wicked then (wilte thou saye) bryng to passe by their vnthankfulnesse, that the ordinance of God be voide and turne to nothyng? I answer that that which I hauehave said, is not so to be takē, as though to force and truthe of the Sacrament dyd hang vppon the state or will of hym that receiueth it. For that whiche God hath ordeyned remaineth stedfast and kepeth still his nature, howsoeuer men doo varie. But sith it is one thyng to offre, an other to receiue: nothyng withstandeth but that the signe halowed by the worde of God may be in dede that which it is called, and kepe his owne force: and yet that there come thereby no profite to an euell doer and wicked man. But Augustine dothe in fewe woordes well assoyle this question.Homi. in Iohan. xxvi. If (saythe he) thou receauest carnally, it ceasseth not to be spirituall: but it is not to thee. But as Augustine hath in the aforesayde places shewed that a Sacramēt is a thyng nothyng worth, if it be seuered frō the truth therof: so in an other place he geueth warnyng that euen in the very conioynyng nedeth a distinction, least we sticke to much in the outward signe. As (sayth he) to folowe the letter,Lib. iii. de doctri Christi. cap. ix. and to take the signes in stede of the thinges, is a point of a seruile weakenesse: so to expounde the signes vnprofitably is a poynte of euell wandryng error. He nameth twoo faultes whyche are here to be auoyded: The one when we so take the signes as thoughe they were geuen in vayne, and when with abacyng or diminyshyng theyr secrete significations by oure enuiousnesse, we bryng to passe that they bryng vsus no profite at all. The other, when in not raisyng our myndes beyonde the visible signe, we geue awaye to the Sacramente the praise of all those good thynges whiche are not geuen vsus but of Christe onelyonly, and that by the Holy ghoste, whyche maketh vsus partakers of Christe hymselfe: and in dede by the helpe of the outwarde Signes: whiche if they allure vsus to Christe, when they bee wrested an other waye, the whole profyte of them is vnworthyly ouerthrowen.
Wherfore let this remaine certaine, that there is no other office of the Sacramentes that of the worde of God: whiche is to offer and set foorth Christ vntounto vsus, and in hym the treasures of heauenly grace: but they auayle or profite nothyng, but beeyng receiued by Faith: euen as wyne, or oyle, or any other liquor, though you poure it on largely, yet it will runne beside and perishe vnlesse the vessels mouth be open to receiue it, and the vessell though it be wette rounde about on the outsyde, shall neuerthelesse remayne emptie and voide within. Beside this we must beware, least those thynges whiche hauehave ben written by the olde writers somewhat to gloriously to amplifie the dignitie of Sacramentes, shold leade vsus away into an error nere to this: namely that we shold thinke that there is some secret power knitt and fastened to the Sacramentes, that they maye of themselues geue vsus the graces of the Holye ghost, like as wyne is geuen in a cup: wheras only this office is appointed to them by God, to testifie and stablish to vsus the good wil of God towarde vsus, and do profite no further vnlesse ye Holy ghost ioyne himselfe to them, which may open our myndes and hartes, & make vsus partakers of this testimonie, wherin also do clerely appere diuers & seueral graces of God. For the sacraments, as we hauehave aboue touched, are that thing to vsus of God, which to mē are messangers of ioyfull thynges, or earnestes in stablishyng of bargaines: which do not of themselues geue any grace, but do tell and shewe vsus, and (as they be earnestes and tokens,) doo ratifie vntounto vsus those thynges that are geuen vsus by the liberalitie of God. The Holy ghost (whom the Sacramentes do not in common without difference bring to al men, but whom the Lord peculiarly geueth to them that be his) is he that bringeth the graces of God with him, which geueth to the Sacramentes place in vsus, whiche maketh them to bryng forth fruite. But although we do not denie that God hymselfe with the most present power of his Spirite is present with his owne institution, least the ministration which he hath ordeined of the Sacraments shold be fruitlesse and vaine: yet we affirme that the inward grace of the Spirite, as it is seuered from the outwarde ministerie, so ought to be seuerally weyed & considered. God therfore truely performeth in dede what soeuer he promiseth and figureth in signes: neither do the signes want their effect, that the author of them may be proued true and faithfull. The question here is only whether God worketh by his own and by inwarde power (as they call it) or do resigne his office to outward signes. But we affirme, that whatsoeuer instruments he vse, his original workyng is nothyng hindered therby. When this is taught concernyng the Sacramentes, bothe their dignitie is honorably sett out, and their vse is plainely shewed, and their profitablenesse is abundantly reported, & the best meane in all these thynges is reteined, that neither any thyng be geuen to them which ought not, nor agayn any thyng be taken from them which is not conuenient to be taken from them. In the mean time that fained deuise is taken away, wherby the cause of iustification and power of the Holy ghost is enclosed in elementes as in vessels or waggons: and that principall force whiche hath ben omitted of other is expresly sett out. Here also it is to be noted, that God inwardly worketh that which the minister figureth and testifieth by outwarde doyng: least that be drawen to a mortall man, which God claimeth to himself alone. The same thyng also doth Augustine wisely touche. How (saith he) doth bothe Moses sanctifie,Questio. vet. testa. lib iii ca. lxxxiiii. and God? Not Moses for God: but Moses with visible Sacramentes by his ministerie, but God with inuisible grace by his holy Spirite: where also is the whole frute of visible Sacraments. For without this sanctification of inuisible grace, what do those visible Sacramentes profite?
The name of Sacramente, as we hauehave hetherto entreated of the nature of it, doth generally conteyne all the signes that euer God gaue to men, to certifie and assure them of the truthe of his promises. Those he somtime willed to remaine in naturall thyngs, sometyme he deliuered them in miracles. Of the first kynd these be examples, as when he gaue to Adam and Eue, the tree of life for an earneste of immortalitie, that they myght assure themselues of it,Gens. ii.xvii. &. iii.iii. Gene. ix.xiii. so long as they dyd eate of the frute therof. And when he did set the heauenly boaw for a monument to Noe and his posteritie, that he wold no more from thensefoorth destroye the earth with ouerflowyng of water. These Adam and Noe had for Sacramentes. Not that the tree did geue them immortalitie, which it could not geue to it selfe: nor that the Boaw (which is but a strikyng back of a sunbeame vponupon the cloudes against it) was of force to hold in the waters: but because they had a marke grauen in them by the word of God, that they should be examples and seales of his testaments. And the tree was a tree before, and the boaw a boawe. When they were written vppon with the word of God, then a newe forme was put into them, that they should begyn to be that which they were not before. That no man should thinke these thynges spoken without cause, the boawe it self is at this day also a witnesse of that couenant, which God made with Noe: whiche boaw so ofte as we beholde, we reade this promise of God written in it, that the earthe shall neuer be destroyed with ouerflowyng of waters. Therfore if any fonde Philosopher, to scorne the simplicitie of our Faith, do affirme that suche varietie of colors doth naturally arise of reflected beames and a cloude set against them: let vsus graunte it in dede, but let vsus laugh to scorne his senslesse follie, which doeth not acknowlege God the Lorde and gouernor of nature: whiche at hys ewne will vseth all the elementes to the seruice of his owne glory. If he had emprinted such tokens in the sunne, ye sterres, the earth, stones, and suche like, they should all hauehave been Sacramentes to vsus. Why are not vncoyned and coyned siluer both of one value, sith they are both one metall? euen because the one hath nothing but nature: when it is stryken with a common marke, it is made money, and receiueth a newe valuation. And shall not God be able to marke his creatures with hys worde, that they may be made Sacramentes, whiche before were naked elementes?Gene. xv.xvii. Iudg. vi.xxxvii.ii. Kinge. xx.ix. Esay. xxxvii….vii Of the second kynde these were examples, when he shewed to Abraham a lighte in a smoking ouen: when he watered the flece with dew, the earth remayning dry: againe he watered the earth, the flece being vntouched, to promise victory to Gedeon: when he drew the shadowe of the diall .ix. lynes backeward, to promise safetie to Ezethias. These thinges, when they were done to relieue and stablishe the weakenesse of their Faith, were then also Sacramentes.
But our presente purpose is, to discourse peculiarly of those Sacramentes, whiche the Lord willed to be ordinarie in his Chirch, to nourishe his worshippers and seruantes into one Faith and the confession of one Faith.Lib. ix. contra. faust. Manich. cap. 11, For (to vse the wordes of Augustine) men can be congeled together into no name of religion either true or false, vnlesse they be bounde together with some felowship of visible signes and Sacramentes. Sithe therefore the moste good Father foresawe thys necessitie, he did from the beginning ordeine certayne exercises of godlinesse for his seruantes, whiche afterwarde Satan: by turning them to wicked and superstitious worshippinges, hath many wayes depraued and corrupted. Hereupon came those solemne professions of the Gentiles into their holy orders, and other bastarde vsages: which although they were full of error and superstition, yet they also were therewith a profe that men could not in profession of religion be without suche outwarde signes. But because they neyther were grounded vppon the worde of God, nor were referred to that trueth whereunto all signes oughte to be directed, they are vnworthy to be rehearsed where mention is made of the holy signes whiche are ordeined of God and hauehave not swarued from their fundation, that is, that they should be helpes of true godlinesse. They consist not of bare signes, as were the boaw and the tree, but vponupon Ceremonies: or rather the signes that be here geuen are Ceremonies. But as it is aboue sayd, that they be on ye Lordes behalfe testimonies of grace and saluatiō: so they be againe on our behalfe markes of profession, by which we openly sweare to the name of God, for our partes bynding our Faith vntounto him. Therefore Chrysostome in one place fittly calleth them couenātinges wherby God byndeth hymselfe in league with vsus, and we be bounde to purenesse and holinesse of life, because here is made a mutuall forme of couenanting betwene God and vsus. For as the Lorde therin promiseth that he will cancell and blot out whatsoeuer giltinesse & penaltie we hauehave gathered by offending, and doth reconcile vsus to himselfe in his only begotten Sonne: so we againe on our behalfes do by thys profession bynde oure selues vntounto hym to the folowing of Godlinesse and innocence: so that a man may rightly say that such Sacramētes are Ceremonies, by which God wil exercise his people first to the nourishing, stirring vp, and strēgthening of Faith inwardly, then to the testifieng of religion before men.
And euen these Sacramentes also were diuerse, after the diuerse order of tyme, according to the distribution whereby it pleased the Lorde to shewe hymselfe after thys or that manner to men. For to Abraham and his posteritie Circumcision was commaunded: wherunto afterwarde purifienges,Ge. xvii.x Leuit. Mathe. xxviii.xix. &. xxvi.xxvi. and Sacrifices, and other Ceremonies were added out of the law of Moses. These were the Sacramentes of the Iewes vntil the comming of Christ: at which comming, those being abrogate, twoo Sacramentes were ordeined, whiche nowe the Christian Chirch vseth, Baptisme, and the Supper of the Lord. I speake of those that were ordeined for the vse of the whole Chirch. For as for the layeng on of handes, whereby the ministers of the Chirch are entred into their office, as I do not vnwillingly suffer it to be called a Sacrament, so I doe not recken it among the ordinarie Sacramentes. As for the rest which are commonly called Sacramentes, what they are to be accompted, we shal se by and by. Howbeit the olde Sacramentes also had respect to the same marke, wherunto ours doe tende, that is to directe and in a maner leade by the hande to Christ: or rather as images to represent hym, and shewe hym fourth to be knowē. For wheras we hauehave alredy taught,1. Cor. i.xx that they are certayne seales wherwith the promises of God are sealed: and where it is most certaine, that there was neuer offred any promise of God to men but in Christ: that they may teache vsus of some promyse of God, they must nedes shewe Christ. Wherunto perteineth that heauenly paterne of the tabernacle and of the worshipping in the law, which was geuen to Moses in ye mount. One only differēce there is, that those did shadowe out Christe being promised, when he was yet loked for: these doe testifie him alredy geuen and deliuered.
When these thinges shall all be particularly and eche one seuerally declared, they shalbe made much playner. Circumcision was to the Iewes a signe, whereby they were putt in mynde, that whatsoeuer commeth of the sede of man, that is to saye the whole nature of man, is corrupte, and hath nede of proyning. Moreouer it was a teaching,Gen. xxii.xxviii. and token of remembrance, whereby they should confirme themselues in the promyse geuen to Abraham, concerning that blessed sede in whome all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, from whome they had their owne blessing to be looked for. Nowe that healthfull sede (as we are taughte of Paule) was Chirst,Gala. iii.xvi. Ro. iiii.xi in whome alone they hoped that they shoulde recouer that whiche they had loste in Adam. Wherefore Circumcision was to them the same thyng whiche Paule sayth that it was to Abraham, namely the seale of the righteousnesse of Fayth: that is to saye, the seale whereby they shoulde be more certainly assured, that their Fayth, wherewith they loked for that sede, shoulde be accompted to them of GOD for righteousnesse. But we shall vppon a better occasion in an other place gooe throughe with the comparison of Circumcision and Baptisme. Baptisinges and purifienges did sette before their eies their owne vncleannesse, filthinesses and pollution, wherwith they were defiled in their owne nature:Heb. ix.i. but they promised an other washing, wherby al their filthinesses should be wiped and washed away.i. Ioh, i.vii Reue, i, v And this washing was Christ, with whoes blood we beeing washed do bryng hys cleannesse into the sight of God, that it maye hyde all our defilinges. Their Sacrifices did accuse them of their owne wickednesse, and therewithall did teache, that it was necessarie that there shoulde be some satisfaction whiche shoulde be payed to the iugement of God. That therefore there shoulde be some one chefe Bishop, a mediator betwene God and men,Heb, iiii, xiiii, &, v, v, &, ix …i, Phili, ii, viii. Rom. v.xix. which should satisfie God by sheding of blood, and by offring of a Sacrifice whiche should suffice for the forgeuenesse of synnes. This chefe Prest was Christ: he himselfe shed hys owne blood: he himselfe was the Sacrifice: for he offred himselfe obediente to hys Father vntounto death: by which obedience he toke awaye the disobedience of man, whiche had prouoked the displeasure of God.
As for oure Sacramentes, they doe so muche more clerely presente Christe vntounto vsus, as he was more nerely shewed to menne, sins he hath ben truely deliuered of his Father such as he had ben promised. For Baptisme doth testifie vntounto vsus that we cleansed and washed: the Supper of thankesgeuing testifieth that we be redemed. In water, is figured washing: in blood, satisfaction. These twoo thinges are founde in Christ whiche (as Iohn sayth) came in water and blood,i. Iohn. v xi. that is to say that he mighte cleanse and redeme. Of whiche thing the Spirite of God also is a witnesse. Yea there are three witnesses in one, Water, Blood, and Spirite. In water and blood we hauehave a testimonie of cleansing and redeming: but the Spirite the principall witnesse bryngeth vntounto vsus assured credit of suche wytnessing. This hie mysterie hath notably well ben shewed vsus in the crosse of Christ,Ioh. xix.x…x.iii. Homil. in Iohn. xx. when water and blood slowed oute of his holy side: whiche side for that cause Augustine rightfully called the fountaine of oure Sacramentes: of which yet we must entreate somwhat more at large. There is no doute but that more plentifull grace also of the Spirite doth here shewe fourth it selfe if you compare tyme with tyme. For that perteineth to the glory of the kingdome of Christe, as we gather out of many places, but specially out of the .vii. Chapter of Iohn. In whiche sense we must take that sayeng of Paule,Colos. ii.xvii. that vnderunder the lawe were shadowes, but in Chirst is the body. Neither is it his meaning to spoyle of their effecte the testimonies of grace, in whiche Gods will was in the olde tyme to proue hymselfe to the Fathers a true speaker, euen as at thys day he doth to vsus in Baptisme and in the holy Supper. But onelyonly his purpose was by waye of comparison to magnifie that whiche was geuen vsus, least any shoulde thynke it maruaylous, that the Ceremonies of the lawe were abolished by the comming of Christ.
But that same schole doctrine (as I may also brefely touche thys by the waye) is vtterly to be hissed out, wherby there is noted so greate a difference betwene the Sacramentes of the olde and newe lawe, as thoughe those did nothing but shadowe out the grace of God, and these do presently geue it. For the Apostle speaketh no lesse honorably of those than of these, when he teacheth that the Fathers did eate the same spirituall meate which we eate,…. x.iii and expoundeth that same meate to be Christ. Who dare make that an empty signe, whiche deliuered to the Iewes a true communion of Christe? And the grounde of the cause which the Apostle there handleth, doth plainly fight on oure side. For, that no man trusting vponupon a colde knowlege of Christe, and emptie title of Christianitie, and outwarde tokens, shoulde presume to despise the iugemente of God: he sheweth fourth examples of Gods seueritie to be seen in the Iewes: that we shoulde knowe that the same peynes whiche they hauehave suffred, hang ouer vsus, if we folowe the same faultes. Nowe that the comparison mighte be fitt, it behoued that he shoulde shewe that there is no vnegalnesse betwene vsus and them in those good thinges wherof he die forbidde vsus to boste falslye. Therefore firste he maketh vsus egall in the Sacramentes, and leaueth to vsus not so muche as any smal pece of prerogatiue, that might encourage vsus to hope of escaping vnpunished. Neither verily is it lawfull to geue any more to our Baptisme,…o. iiii.xi thā he in an other place geueth to circumcision, when he calleth it the seale of the righteousnesse of Fayth. Whatsoeuer therefore is at this day geuen vsus in our Sacramentes, the same thyng the Iewes in olde tyme receiued in theirs, that is to say Christ with his spirituall richesse. What power our Sacramentes hauehave, the same they also felte in theirs: that is to saye, that they were to them seales of Gods good will towarde them, into the hope of eternall saluation. If they had ben apt expositors of the Epistle to the Hebrues, they would not hauehave so ben blynded. But when they red there,He. x.x.i, that sinnes were not cleansed by the Ceremonies of the law, yea that the olde shadowes had no auayling force to righteousnesse: they neglecting the comparison which is there handeled, while they toke holde of this one thing, that the lawe of it selfe nothing profited the folowers of it, though simply ye the figures were voide of truth. But the Apostles meaning is to bring the ceremonial law to nothing, vntill it come to Christ, vponupon whom alone hangeth al the effectualnesse of it.
But they will obiecte those thinges whiche are red in Paul concerning the circumcision of the letter, that it is in no estimation wt God, that it geueth nothing, that it is vaine. For suche sayenges seme to presse it down farr benethe Baptisme. Not so. For the very same might rightfully be sayd of Baptisme. Yea and also the same is sayd, firste of Paule hym selfe,i. Gor, x, v where he sheweth that God regardeth not the outwarde washing wherby we enter into profession of religion, vnlesse the minde within be both cleansed and continue in cleannesse to the ende: againe of Peter, when he testifieth that the trueth of Baptisme standeth not in the outwarde washing,i. Pet. iii.xxi. Col. ii.xi. but in a good witnessing, of conscience. But he semeth also in an other place vtterly to despise the circumcision made with hande, when he compareth it with the circumcision of Christe. I aunswere that euen in this place nothyng is abated of the dignitie of it. Paule there …isputeth against them, whiche required it as necessarie when it was nowe abrogate. Therfore he warneth the faythfull, that leauing the olde shadowes they should stande fast in the truth. These maisters (sayth he) instantly call vponupon you, that your bodies may be circumcised. But ye are spiritually circumcised according to ye soule and body. Ye hauehave therefore the deliuerance of the thing in dede, which is much better thā the shadow. A man might take exceptiō to ye contrary & say, yt the figure is not therfore to be despised because they had ye thing in dede: forasmuch as yt putting of of the old man of which he there spake, was also amōg ye Fathers, to whō yet outwarde Circumcision had not ben superfluous. He preuenteth this obiectiō, whē he by and by addeth, yt the Colossians were buried wt Christ by Baptisme. Wherby he signifieth yt at this day Baptisme is ye same to Christiās, which circūcisiō was to ye olde people: & therfore that circūcisiō can not be enioined to Christians wtout wrōg done to Christ.
But that which foloweth and which I euē now alleged, is harder to assoyle, that all the Iewishe Ceremonies were shadowes of thinges to come, and that in Christ is the body: but most hard of all is yt whiche is entreated in many chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrues, yt the blood of beastes, atteined not to consciences: that the law had a shadowe of good thinges to come, not an image of thinges: that the folowers of it obteined no perfection of the Ceremonies of Moses: and such other. I goe backe to that which I hauehave alredy touched, yt Paule doth not therefore make the Ceremonies shadowish, because they had no sounde thing in them: but because the fulfilling of them was after a certayne maner hanged in suspense vntil the deliuering of Christ. Agayne I say yt thys is to be vnderstanded not of the effectualnesse, but rather of the manner of signifieng. For till Christ was manifestly shewed in the fleshe, al the signes did shadow hym out as absent, howsoeuer he did inwardly vtter to the faithfull ye presence of hys power and of hymselfe. But thys we ought chefely to marke, yt in al those places Paule doth not speake simply, but by way of cōtention. Because he striued with the false Apostles, which would hauehave godlinesse to cōsist in the Ceremonies only wtout any respect of Christ: to cōfute them, it sufficed only to entreate, of what value Ceremonies are by thēselues. This marke also y• author of ye Epistle to ye Hebrues folowed. Let vsus therfore remēber yt here is disputed of Ceremonies, not as they be takē in their owne & natural signification, but as they be wrested to a false & wrongful expositiō: not of the lawful vse of them, but of the abuse of superstition. What maruel is it therfore if Ceremonies being seuered frō Christe, are vnclothed of al force? For al sygnes whatsoeuer they be, are brought to nought, when the thyng signified is takē away. So whē Christ had to do wt them which thought that Manna was nothing ells but meate for the belly,Iohn. vi.xxvii. he applieth hys speche to their grosse opinion, and sayth yt he ministreth better meate, which may fede soules to hope of immortalitie. But if you require a plainer solution, the summe of all tendeth to this: First, that al that furniture of Ceremonies, which was in the law of Moses, is a vanishing thing and of no value, vnlesse it be directed to Christe. Secondly, that they so had respecte to Christe, that when he at length was manifestly shewed in the fleshe, they had theyr fulfilling. Finally, that it behoued that they shoulde be taken awaye by hys comming, euen as a shadowe vanisheth away in the clere lyght of the sunne. But because I doe yet differre longer discourse of yt mater vntounto that place where I hauehave purposed to compare Baptisme with circumcision, therfore I do now more sparingly touche it.
Parhaps also those immeasurable praises of y• Sacramentes, which are red in ye old writers cōcerning our signes, deceiued those miserable Sophisters. As this of Augustine. That ye Sacramentes of ye old law did only promise ye Sauior,In proem enarr ps. lxxiii. quest. super numer. cap xxxiii. Libro. 9. ca. xiiii. but ours doe geue saluatiō. Whē they marked not yt these and such other formes of speaking were spoken: they also published their excessiue doctrines, but in a cleane contrarie sense frō the writing of the olde Fathers. For Augustine meant no other thing in that place, than as ye same Augustine writeth in an other place, That the Sacramentes of the law of Moses did foretell of Christ, but oures do tel of him present. And against Faustus. That those were promises of thinges to be fulfilled, these were tokens of thinges fulfilled: as if he should say, that those figured him when he was loked for, but ours doe as it were shewe hym present which hath ben already deliuered. Moreouer he speaketh of the manner of signifying, as also he sheweth in an other place.Lib. cō. lit. petil. capitu. xxxvii. Homil. In Iohn. xxvl. The law (sayth he) and the Prophetes had Sacramentes, foretelling of a thing to come: but the Sacramentes of our tyme doe testifie that that is already come, which those did declare to be to come. But what he thought of the thing and effectuallnesse, he expoundeth in many places: as when he sayeth, that the Sacramentes of the Iewes were in signes, diuerse: but in ye thing signified, egal with ours: diuerse in visible forme, but egall in spiritual power. Againe: In diuerse signes is all one Fayth: so in diuerse signes, as in diuerse woordes: because wordes change their soundes by tymes: and truly wordes are nothing but signes. The Fathers did drinke the same spirituall drinke, for they dronke not the same bodily drinke. Se ye therfore, Faith remayning one, the signes varied. To them the rocke was Christ: to vsus that is Christ which is set vponupon the altar. And they dronke for a great Sacrament, the water flowing out of the rocke: what we drynke, the faithfull know. If thou consider the visible forme, they dronke an other thyng: if an vnderstable signification, they dronke the same spirituall drinke. In an other place, in the mysterie the same is their meate and drynke which is ours:In psal. lxxvii. Lib. ix. con. fau. cap. xiii. but the same in signification, not in forme: because the selfe same Christ was figured to them in the rocke, and shewed to vsus in the flesh. Howbeit in this behalfe also we graunt that there is some difference. For both Sacramentes doe testifie that the fatherly good wyl of God and ye graces of the Holy ghost are offered vsus in Christ: but our Sacramentes testifie it more clerely and brightly. In both is a deliuering of Christ: but in these more plenteous and fuller, namely as that difference of the olde and new Testamēt beareth, of which we hauehave entreated before.de doct. Christ. Lib. 3. Epi. ad. …na. And this is it that the same Augustine meant (whom we more often allege as the best and faithfullest witnesse of al the old writers) where he teacheth, that when Christ was reueled, Sacramentes were ordeined both in number fewer, in signification hier, in force more excellente. Of this thing also it is expediente that the reders be brefely warned, that whatsoeuer the Sophisters hauehave triflingly taught cōcerning the worke wrought, is not only false, but disagreeth wt the nature of y• Sacramētes, which God hath ordeined, yt the faithful being voide and nedy of al good things should bring nothing thether but beggerie. Whereupon foloweth that in receiuing them, these men do nothing wherby they may deserue praise: or that in this doing (whiche in theyr respecte is merely passiue) no worke can be ascribed vntounto them.