CHAP. V. VER. 32. 951

Υ. 82. Τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν, this mystery zs great. The word mystery does not refer to the pas- sage in Gen. 2, 24, as though the apostle intended to say that that passage had a mystical sense which he had just unfolded by applying it to the relation be- tween Christ and his church. It is the union between Christ and his people, the fact that they are one jlesh, he declares to be a great mystery. The word μυστή- peov is used here, as it is every where else, for some- thing hidden, something beyond the reach of human knowledge. Whether its being thus hidden arises from its lying in the future, or because of being imper- fectly revealed, or because it is in its own nature incomprehensible, must be determined by the connec- tion. In this place the last is probably the idea in- tended. The thing itself is beyond our comprehension. The Vulgate renders this passage, sacramentum hoc magnum est. The Latin word sacramentum, besides its usual classical sense, ‘a sacred deposit,’ was often used to signify any thing sacred, or which had a hidden import. In this latter sense it agrees in meaning with the word μυστήριον, which also is used to designate something the meaning of which is hidden. Hence in the Vulgate it is often translated as it is here. In the Latin church the word sacramentum, however, gra- dually changed its meaning. Instead of being applied to every thing having a sacred or secret meaning, it was confined to those rites or acts which were assumed to have the power of conferring grace. This is the Romish idea of a sacrament. The Papal theologians