.... separatur ab usu communi, et destinatur usui sacramen- tali ; deinde promissio atque ea quidem evangelio propria, per sacramentum adplicanda et obsignanda. Per elementum non quodvis, sed certum et verbo institutionis expressum accipitur." * In all this the Reformed and Lutherans are agreed. The differences between them in relation to the sacraments do not concern their nature.
Romish Doctrine.
The distinctive doctrine of the Romish Church on this subject is that the sacraments contain the grace which they signify, and that such grace is conveyed " ex opere operate" That is, they have a real inherent and objective virtue, which renders them effectual in communicating saving benefits to those who receive them. In a certain sense these words may be used to express the Lutheran doctrine ; but that doctrine differs from the Romanist doctrine, as will appear when the efficacy of the sacraments comes to be con- sidered. The language of the Council of Trent on this subject is : " Si quis dixerit sacramenta novaB legis non continere gratiam, quam significant ; aut gratiam ipsam non ponentibus obicem non conferee; quasi signa tantum externa sint acceptae per fidem gratiae, vel justitiae, et notae quaedam Christianae professionis, qui- bus apud homines discernuntur fideles ab infidelibus ; anathema sit." 2
The Roman Catechism defines a sacrament " Rem esse sensi- bus subjectam, quae ex Dei institutione sanctitatis et justitiae turn significandae, turn efficiendae vim habet." 3 As the task devolved on the Council of Trent was to present and harmonize the doc- trines elaborated by the Schoolmen in opposition to the doctrines of the Reformers, the definitions and explanations given by the writers of the Middle Ages throw as much light on the decrees of the Council as the expositions of the later theologians of the Latin Church. On this point Thomas Aquinas says : " Oportet, quod virtus salutifera a divinitate Christi per ejus humanitatem
in ipsa sacramenta derivetur Sacramenta ecclesiae speciali-
ter habent virtutem ex passibne Christi, cujus virtus quodammodo nobis copulatur per susceptionem sacramentorum." 4 Again : "Ponendo quod sacramentum est instrumentalis causa gratiae, necesse est simul ponere, quod in sacramento sit quaedam virtus
1 Gerhard, Loci Theologici, xix. 2. § 11 ; edit. Tubingen, 1768, vol. viii. p. 207.
2 Sess. vii. De Sacramentis in genere, canon 6 ; Streitwolf , vol. i. p. 39. 8 ii. i. qusest. 6 (x. 11); Streitwolf, vol. i. p. 241.
* Summa, m. lxii. 5; edit. Cologne, 1640, p. 129, b, of fourth set.
490 PART in. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
instrumentalis ad inducendum sacramentalem effectum Si- cut virtus instrumentalis acquiritur instrumento, ex hoc ipso quod movetur ab agente principali, ita et sacramentum consequitur spiritualem virtutem ex benedictione Christi et applicatione minis- tri ad usum sacramenti.,, Thus Thomas's own opinion was adopted by the Council as opposed to that of the Scotists to which Thomas refers, in the same connection : " Illi qui ponunt quod sacramenta non causant gratiam, nisi per quandam concomitantiam ponunt quod in sacramento non sit aliqua virtus, quas operetur ad sacra- menti effectum, est tamen virtus divina sacramento assistens, quae sacramentalem effectum operatur."1 This is very nearly the doctrine of the Reformed Church upon the subject. Bellarmin's illustration of the point in hand is that as fire is the cause of combustion when brought into contact with proper materials, so the sacraments produce their effect by their own inherent virtue. " Exemplum," he says, " esse potest in re naturali. Si ad ligna comburenda, primum exsiccarentur ligna, deinde excuteretur ex silice, turn applicaretur ignis ligno, et sic tandem fieret combustio ; nemo diceret, causam immediatam combustionis esse siccitatem aut excussionem ignis ex silice aut applicationem ignis ad ligna, sed solum ignem, ut causam primariam, et solum calorem sen calef actionem, ut causam instrumentalem." 2
" Jam vero sacramenta gratiam, quam significant, continerer eamque conferre virtute sibi insita, seu ex opere operato, Scrip- turae, patres, constansque Ecclesiae sensus traditionalis luculentis- sime docent." 8 According to Romanists, therefore, a sacrament is a divine ordinance which has the inherent or intrinsic power of conferring the grace which it signifies.
Bemon8tr<mt Doctrine.
It has already been shown that it was the tendency of the Remonstrants to eliminate, as far as possible, the supernatural element from Christianity. They therefore regarded the sac- raments not properly as means of grace, but as significant rites intended to bring the truth vividly before the mind, which truth exerted its moral influence on the heart. " Sacramenta cum dici- mus, externas ecclesiae ceremonias seu ritus illos sacros ac solennes intelligimus, quibus veluti fcederalibus signis ac sigillis visibili- bus, Deus gratiosa beneficia sua, in foedere praesertim evangelico
1 Aquinas, ut supra, lxii. 4; p. 129, a.
3 Bellarmin, De Sacramentis, n. i. ; Disputationes, Paris, 1608, vol. iii. p. 109, a. * Joannes Perrone, Preelections Theologies, De Sacramentis in genere, II. i. 39 : edit Paris, 1861, vol. ii. p. 221, a.