The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 7 · Controversy 11 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. What is the ſignification of the word Sacrament: And in what ſenſe the Fathers call the Euchariſt the body of Chriſt.
THE word Sacrament according to the property of the Latin tongue, ſignifieth a pawn or money depoſited in a Court for the parties pleading, with that condition that the party that is caſt, muſt loſe alſo the money depoſited.
Alſo Sacramentum in the good Latin Authors, is as much as an oath: And thence comes the French word Serment: But more commonly by the word Sacramentum, that oath was underſtood which a Souldier took unto his General.
When the Latin tongue began to decay, the Old Chriſtians called Sacrament any myſterie, any doctrine that was hidden and ſacred, and the intelligence thereof was not expoſed to every mans ſight. In that ſenſe the vulgar verſion received in the Roman Church, takes the word Sacrament. Thus the(a)1 Tim. 3.16. incarnation of the Saviour.(b)Eph. 1.9. The will of God.(c)Dan. 2.27. The Statue of Nebuchadnezzar. (d)Rev. 17.7.The myſterie of the great harlot.(e)Eph. 5.32. The union of Chriſt with his Church, are in the Greek text of Scripture called Myſteries, and in the vulgar verſion Sacraments.
But in the end uſe hath ſo prevailed, that the word Sacrament ſignifies a ſacred ſign of Gods Covenant in Chriſt, inſtituted by God in his Church; and ſuch are Baptiſm and the Lords Supper. In this ſenſe the Latin Fathers, and the Roman Church of this time, and ours take the word Sacrament: For we willingly comply with the uſual words, ſo that the truth of things may remain; underſtanding no other thing by this word Sacrament, but that which Scripture(f)Gen. 17.21. Rom. 4.11. 1 Cor. 11.24. calls a ſign,(g)Signa cum ad res divinas pertinent, Sacramenta appellantur. a ſeal, and a commemoration.
Auſtin in the fifth Epiſtle to Marcellinus, ſaith, That Signs when they belong to divine things, are called Sacraments. And in the fifth book of the City of God, ch. 5.(h)Sacrifium viſibile eſt inviſibilis ſacrificii ſacramentum, id eſt ſacrum ſignum. The viſible ſacrifice is a ſacrament of the inviſible ſacrifice, that is, a ſacred Sign. And againſt the adverſary of the Law and the Prophets in the ſecond book, chap. 9. Sacramenta, id eſt ſacra ſigna. And Lombard (i)Lombard. l. 4. Diſt. 1. Sacramen…um eſt inviſibilis gratiae viſibilis forma. Et Sect. Apud. Sacramentum nomen genericum, ſignificat ſignum rei ſacrae. Et cap. 9. Sect. Primo.the Maſter of Sentences, defineth thus a Sacrament, Sacramentum eſt ſacrae rei ſignum, A Sacrament is a ſign of a ſacred thing. He ſaith alſo that it is a form or outward ſhew of an inviſible grace. And Bellarmine in the firſt book of the Sacraments, chap. 7. The word Sacrament ſignifies a ſign of a ſacred thing. Wherefote when the Fathers call the Lords ſupper the Sacrament of the body of Chriſt, by theſe words they underſtand that the Lords Supper is the ſacred ſign of the body of Chriſt. It is a great abuſe to call the body of Chriſt a Sacrament; for it is making the body of Chriſt a ſign of himſelf, and a figure of himſelf. As if the King were the picture of himſelf, and the Kings perſon the picture and image of his perſon.
Wherefore Auſtin will have us to lift up our minds from the Sacraments, that is, from the viſible ſigns, to the things ſignified.(k)Auguſt. contra Maximinum. l. 3. c. 22. Haec Sacramenta ſunt in quibus non quid ſim, ſed quid oſtendant, ſemper attenditur. Quoniam ſigna ſunt rerum, aliud exiſtentia, aliud ſignificantia. Theſe things (ſaith he) are Sacraments, in which we have regard alwayes, not to that which they are, but to that which they repreſent; becauſe they are ſigns of things, which are one thing and ſignifie another.
For that reaſon the ſame Father denieth that the Sacrament of the body of Chriſt is the body of Chriſt but after ſome manner, and according as the ſigns by reaſon of the reſemblance are called with the name of the things ſignified,(l)Epiſt. 23. ad Bonifacium. Si ſacramenta quandam ſimiltitudinem earum quarum ſunt Sacramenta non haberent, omnino Sacramenta non eſſent. Ex hac autem ſimilitudine plerumque etiam ipſarum nomina accipiunt. Sicut ergo ſecundum quendam modum Sacramentum corporis Chriſti corpus Chriſti eſt, Sacramentum ſanguinis Chriſti ſanguis Chriſti eſt, Ita ſacramentum fidei fides eſt. If the Sacraments (ſaith he) had not ſome reſemblance with thoſe things whereof they are Sacraments, they ſhould not be Sacraments at all. Now becauſe of that reſemblance they take more often the names of the things themſelves. As then the Sacrament of the body of Chriſt is after ſome manner the body of Chriſt; and the Sacrament of the blood of Chriſt is the blood of Chriſt; ſo the Sacrament of faith (meaning Baptiſm) is faith. And in the ſame place upon that the Apoſtle calls Baptiſm a burial, Rom. 6. he ſaith that(m)Sacramentum tantae rei non niſi ejuſdem rei vocabulo ſignificavit. Saint Paul could not expreſs the Sacrament of ſo great a thing, but by the name of the ſame thing. Where it is clear that by the Sacrament he meaneth the ſacred ſign.
Wherefore every time that it is ſpoken in Auſtins books of the Sacrament of the body of Chriſt, the true interpretation is to tranſlate the ſacred ſign of the body of Chriſt.