and, despising the remedies which God had put into their hands, indulge a contumacious and obstinate presumption that they are able to overcome the vice of incontinence. For what shall we call it but contumacy, when any one who is admonished that he stands in need of marriage, and that it has been given to him by the Lord as a remedy, not only contemns it, but binds himself by an oath to persevere in that contempt?

CHAPTER XIV.

The Sacraments.

CONNECTED with the preaching of the gospel, another assistance and support for our faith is presented to us in the sacraments: on the subject of which it is highly important to lay down some certain doctrine, that we may learn for what end they were instituted, and how they ought to be used. In the first place, it is necessary to consider what a sacrament is. Now I think it will be a simple and appropriate definition, if we say that it is an outward sign, by which the Lord seals in our consciences the promises of his good-will towards us, to support the weakness of our faith, and we on our part testify our piety towards him, in his presence and that of angels, as well as before men. It may however be more briefly defined, in other words, by calling it a testimony of the grace of God towards us, confirmed by an outward sign, with a reciprocal attestation of our piety towards him. Whichever of these definitions be chosen, it conveys exactly the same meaning as that of Augustine, which states a sacrament to be "a visible sign of a sacred thing," or "a visible form of invisible grace:" but it expresses the thing itself with more clearness and precision; for as his conciseness leaves some obscurity, by which many inexperienced persons may be misled, I have endeavoured to render the subject plainer by more words, that no room might be left for any doubt.

II. The reason why the ancient Fathers used this word in

such a sense, is very evident. For whenever the author of the old common version of the New Testament wanted to render the Greek word μvocngiov, mystery, into Latin, especially where it related to divine things, he used the word sacramentum,“ sacrament." Thus in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will." (a) Again, " If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery." (6) In the Epistle to the Colossians: "The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery." (c) Again, to Timothy: "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." (d) In all these places, where the word mystery is used, the author of that version has rendered it sacrament. He would not say arcanum, or secret, lest he should appear to degrade the majesty of the subject. Therefore he has used the word sacrament for a sacred or divine secret. In this signification it frequently occurs in the writings of the Fathers. And it is well known, that baptism and the Lord's supper, which the Latins denominate sacraments, are called mysteries by the Greeks; a synonimous use of the terms, which removes every doubt. And hence the word sacrament came to be applied to those signs which contained a representation of sublime and spiritual things: which is also remarked by Augustine, who says, "It would be tedious to dispute respecting the diversity of signs, which, when they pertain to divine things, are called sacraments."

III. Now, from the definition which we have established, we see that there is never any sacrament without an antecedent promise of God, to which it is subjoined as an appendix, in order to confirm and seal the promise itself, and to certify and ratify it to us: which means God foresees to be necessary, in the first place on account of our ignorance and dulness, and in the next place on account of our weakness; and yet, strictly speaking, not so much for the confirmation of his sacred word,

(a) Ephes. i. 9. (6) Eph. iii. 2, 3. (c) Col. i. 26, 27. (d) 1 Tim. iii. 16.

as for our establisment in the faith of it. For the truth of God is sufficiently solid and certain in itself, and can receive no better confirmation from any other quarter than from itself: but our faith being slender and weak, unless it be supported on every side, and sustained by every assistance, immediately shakes, fluctuates, totters and falls. And as we are corporeal, always creeping on the ground, cleaving to terrestrial and carnal objects, and incapable of understanding or conceiving of any thing of a spiritual nature, our merciful Lord, in his infinite indulgence, accommodates himself to our capacity, condescending to lead us to himself even by these earthly elements, and in the flesh itself to present to us a mirror of spiritual blessings. "For if we were incorporeal," as Chrysostom says, "he would have given us these things pure and incorporeal. Now because we have souls enclosed in bodies, he gives us spiritual things under visible emblems. Not because there are such qualities in the nature of the things presented to us in the sacraments; but because they have been designated by God to this signification."

IV. This is what is commonly said, that a sacrament consists of the word and the outward sign. For we ought to understand the word, not of a murmur uttered without any meaning or faith, a mere whisper like a magical incantation, supposed to possess the power of consecrating the elements, but of the gospel preached, which instructs us in the signification of the visible sign. That which is commonly practised under the tyranny of the Pope, therefore, involves a gross profanation of the mysteries: for they have thought it sufficient for the priest to mutter over the form of consecration, while the people are gazing in ignorance. Indeed, they have taken effectual care that it should be all unintelligible to the people; for they have pronounced the consecration in Latin before illiterate men: and have at length carried superstition to such a pitch as to consider it not rightly performed, unless it be done in a hoarse murmur which few could hear. But Augustine speaks in a very different manner of the sacramental word. "Let the word," says he, "be added to the element, and it will become a sacrament." For whence does the water derive such great virtue, as at once to touch the body and purify the

heart, except from the word? not because it is spoken, but because it is believed. For in the word itself the transient sound is one thing, the permanent virtue is another. "This is the word of faith which we preach," (e) says the Apostle. Whence it is said of the Gentiles, in the Acts of the Apostles, that "God purifies their hearts by faith.”(ƒ) And the Apostle Peter says, "Baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God.)” (g) “This is the word of faith which we preach," by which baptism is consecrated to endue it with a purifying virtue. We see how he makes the preaching of the word necessary to the production of faith. And we need not labour much to prove this, because it is very plain what Christ did, what he commanded us to do, what the apostles followed, and what the purer Church observed. Even from the beginning of the world, whenever God gave the holy Fathers any sign, it is well known to have been inseparably connected with some doctrine, without which our senses would only be astonished with the mere prospect of it. Therefore, when we hear mention made of the sacramental word, let us understand it of the promise, which, being audibly and intelligibly preached by the minister, instructs the people in the meaning and tendency of the sign.

V. Nor ought any attention to be paid to some, who endeavour to oppose this by a dilemma which discovers more subtilty than solidity. They say, Either we know that the word of God which precedes the sacrament is the true will of God, or we do not know it. If we know it, then we learn nothing new from the sacrament which follows. If we do not know it, neither shall we learn it from the sacrament, the virtue of which lies entirely in the word. Let it be concisely replied, that the seals appended to charters, patents, and other public instruments, are nothing, taken by themselves, because they would be appended to no purpose, if the parchment had nothing written upon it; and yet they nevertheless confirm and authenticate what is written on the instruments to which they are annexed. Nor can it be objected that this similitude has been (e) Rom. x. 9. (ƒ) Acts xv. 9. (g) 1 Peter iii. 21.

recently invented by us; for it has been used by Paul himself, who calls circumcision a seal, (h) gayida, in a passage where he is professedly contending that circumcision did not constitute the righteousness of Abraham, but was a seal of that covenant, in the faith of which he had already been justified. And what is there that ought to give any man much offence, if we teach that the promise is sealed by the sacraments, while it is evident that among the promises themselves one is confirmed by another? For in proportion to its superior clearness, it is the better calculated for the support of faith. Now the sacraments bring us the clearest promises, and have this peculiarity beyond the word, that they give us a lively representation of them, as in a picture. Nor ought we to regard the objection, frequently urged, from the distinction between sacraments and seals of civil instruments; that while they both consist of the carnal elements of this world, the former cannot be fit to seal the promises of God, which are spiritual and eternal, as the latter are accustomed to be appended to seal the edicts of princes relative to frail and transitory things. For a faithful man, when the sacraments are placed before his eyes, does not confine himself to that carnal spectacle; but by those steps of analogy which I have indicated, rises in pious contemplation to the sublime mysteries which are concealed under the sacramental symbols.

VI. And since the Lord calls his promises covenants, and the sacraments seals of covenants, we may draw a similitude from the covenants of men. The ancients, in confirmation of their engagements, were accustomed to kill a sow. But what would have been the slaughter of a sow, if it had not been accompanied, and even preceded, by some words? For sows were often slaughtered without any latent or sublime mystery. What is the contact of one man's right hand with that of another, since hands are not unfrequently joined in hostility? But when words of friendship and compact have preceded, the obligations of covenants are confirmed by such signs, notwithstanding they have been previously conceived, proposed, and determined in words. Sacraments therefore are exercises, which increase and

(h) Rom. iv. 11.