mors est : res vero sacramenti, etiam, prseter sacramentum, su- menti vita aeterna est." 1
The Lutheran symbols on this point are perfectly explicit. In the " Augsburg Confession " 2 it is said : " Itaque utendum est sacramentum ita, ut fides accedat, quae credat promissionibus, quae per sacramenta exhibentur et ostenduntur. Damnant igitur illos, qui docent, quod sacramenta, ex opere operato justificent, nee docent fidem requiri in usu sacramentorum, quae credat re- mitti peccata."
In the " Apology for the Augsburg Confession " 3 it is said : " Damnamus totum populum scholasticorum doctorum, qui do- cent, quod sacramenta non ponenti obicem conf erant gratiam ex opere operato, sine bono motu utentis. Haec simpliciter Judaica opinio est, sentire, quod per ceremoniam justificemur, sine bono
motu cordis, hoc est, sine fide At sacramenta sunt signa
promissionum. Igitur in usu debet accedere fides Loqui-
mur hie de fide speciali, quae praesenti promissioni credit, non tan- tum quae in genere credit Deum esse, sed quae credit offerri remis- sionem peccatorum."
The second point in the doctrine of Lutherans in regard to the efficacy of the sacraments is one in which they differ from the Reformed, and as Guerike, himself a strenuous Lutheran, cor- rectly says, approximate to the Romanists. They hold that the efficacy of the sacraments is due to their own inherent virtue or power ; a power independent, on the one hand, of the attendant influences of the Spirit (extrinsecus accidens), and, on the other hand, of the faith of the recipient. Faith, indeed, is necessary to any saving or sanctifying effect, but that is only a subjective con- dition on which the beneficial operation of the power, inherent in the sacraments, is suspended. Bellarmin's illustration is applica- ble to the Lutheran doctrine as well as to his own. Fire will not cause wood to burn unless the wood be dry ; but its diyness does not give fire its power. Luther's own favourite illustration was drawn from the case of the woman who touched the Saviour's garment. There was inherent healing virtue in Christ. Those who touched him without faith received no benefit. The woman having faith was healed the moment she touched the hem of his garment. Her faith, however, was in no sense the source of the power which resided in Christ. Guerike complains that the Re-
1 Guigo (attributed to St. Bernard) f Works of St. Bernard, edit. Migne, Paris, 1859, vol. Hi. p. 327, b, c (ii. 214). » i. xiii.; Hase, Libri Symbolici, Leipzig, 1846, p. 13. • vn. 18-21; Ibid. p. 203.
504 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
formed teach that " the visible signs do not as sucn convey any invisible divine grace ; that without the sacraments the Christian may enjoy through faith the same divine gifts which the sacra- ments are intended to convey, and hence do not admit their abso- lute necessity, much less that they are the central point of the Christian method of salvation (der christlichen Heilsanstalt)."1
Luther did not at first hold this inherent power of the sacra- ments, but seemed disposed to adopt even the low views of Zwin- gle. In his work on the Babylonish Captivity he says, " Bap- tismus neminem justificat, nee ulli prodest, sed fides in verbum promissionis, cui additur baptismus Nee verum esse po- test, sacramentis inesse vim efiicacem justificationis seu esse signa efficacia gratiae." 2 Melancthon uses much the same language : " Non justificant signa, ut Apostolus ait, Circumcisio nihil est : ita baptismus nihil est. Participatio mensae Domini nihil est : sed testes sunt *al a<f>payi8ts divinae voluntatis erga te, quibus con- scientia tua certa reddatur, si de gratia, de benevolentia Dei erga
se dubitet Quae alii sacramenta, nos signa appellamus,
aut si ita libet, signa sacramentalia. Nam sacramentum ipsum Christum Paulus vocat." 3 " Hinc apparet, quam nihil signa sint, nisi fidei exercendae fu^/xotrwa." *
As, however, Luther understood our Lord's words in John iii. 5, as teaching the necessity of baptism, he inferred that if the sacrament is necessary to salvation it must have saving power. But as the Bible teaches that no one can be saved without faith, he held that the sacraments could have no saving effect unless the recipient was a believer. "We have thus the two essential elements of the Lutheran doctrine of the sacraments ; they have inherent, saving, sanctifying power ; but that power takes effect for good only upon believers.
The necessity of faith is clearly stated in the passages already quoted from the " Augsburg Confession " and the " Apology ; " the inherent power of the sacraments in opposition to the Reformed doctrine is as clearly taught in the Lutheran standards. Both points are included in some of the proof passages which follow. Guerike says : " It is undoubtedly the Lutheran, in opposition to the Reformed doctrine of * virtus Spiritus sancti extrinsecus
1 AUgemeine Chrtstliche Symbolik, § 54, Leipzig, 1839, pp. 375, 376.
a Luther, Captivitas Babylonica, de Sacramento Baptismi ; Works, edit. Wittenberg (Latin), 1546, vol. ii. leaf 79, page 2.
* Loci Communes ; De Signis ; edit. Strasburg, 1523, in Dodecas Scriptorum Theolog- icorum, Nuremberg, 1646, pp. 774, 775.
4 Ibid^ De Baptismo, p. 778.