ments convey grace only to believers. Whereas Romanists, as understood by Lutherans and indeed by all Protestants, deny this necessity of faith or of good dispositions in order to the due efficacy of the sacraments. This, however, Bellarmin pro- nounces a deliberate falsehood on the part of the Protestants; and he uses language on this subject which Luther himself might have employed, " Est merum mendacium," he says, " quod Catholici dicant, sacramenta prodesse peccatoribus : omnes enim Catholici requirunt poenitentiam, tanquam dispositionem ad gra- tiam recipiendam." " Falsum est Catholicos non habere pro obice incredulitatem : omnes enim Catholici requirunt necessario in adultis actualem fidem, et sine ea dicunt neminem justificari." 1 " Voluntas, fides, et poenitentia in suscipiento adulto necessario requiruntur, ut dispositiones ex parte subjecti, non ut causae activae: non enim fides et poenitentia efficiunt gratiam sacra- mentalem, neque dant efficaciam sacramento ; sed solum tollunt obstacula quae impedirent, ne sacramenta suam efficaciam exer- cere possent ; unde in pueris, ubi non requiritur dispositio, sine his rebus fit justificatio." 2 Luther would not agree with this last clause about infants; but to the rest of the paragraph he could hardly object. Then follows in Bellarmin the illustration quoted above.3 Fire does not owe its efficacy to the dryness of the wood ; nevertheless the dryness is a necessary condition of combustion.
In another passage Bellarmin is still more explicit : " Igitur ut intelligamus, quid sit opus operatum, notandum est, in justifi- catione, quam recipit aliquis, dum percipit sacramenta, multa concurrere ; nimirum ex parte Dei, voluntatem utendi ilia re sensi- bili ; ex parte Christi, passionem ejus ; ex parte ministri potesta- tem, voluntatem, probitatem ; ex parte suscipientis voluntatem, fidem, et poenitentiam ; denique ex parte sacramenti ipsam ac- tionem externam, quae consurgit, ex debita applicatione formae et materiae. Caeterum ex his omnibus id, quod active, et proxime atque instrumentaliter efficit gratiam justificationis, est sola actio ilia externa, quae sacramentum dicitur, et haec vocatur opus operatum, accipiendo passive (operatum) ita ut idem sit sacra- mentum conferre gratiam ex opere operato, quod conferre gratiam ex [vi] ipsius actionis sacramentalis a Deo ad hoc institutae, non ex merito agentis vel suscipientis." 4
1 Bellarmin, De Sacramentis, L 2; Disputationes, Paris, 1608, vol. iii. p. 6, b, c.
* Ibid. ii. i. ; pp. 108, d, 109, a. 8 See p. 490.
* De Sacramentis in genere, n. i. ; ut supra, p. 108, c.
512 PART m. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
Notwithstanding all this the Romanists do teach the very doc- trine which the Reformers charged upon them, and which the Protestant Symbols so strenuously condemn. This is clear, —
1. Because the same words do not always mean the same thing. Bellarmin says that Romanists teach that faith on the part of the recipient is necessary in order to the efficacy of the sacraments, at least in the case of adults. Protestants say the same thing ; and yet their meaning is entirely different. By faith, Protestants mean saving faith ; that faith which is one of the fruits of the Spirit, which, if a man has, his salvation is certain. Romanists, however, mean by faith mere assent, which a man may have, and be in a state of condemnation, and perish forever. This is their formal definition of faith, as given by Bellarmin himself ; and the Council of Trent pronounces accursed those who say that the assent given by unrenewed men to the truth, is not true faith. Romanists do not hold that sacraments convey grace to avowed atheists or professed infidels; but that they exert saving power on those having the kind of faith in the Church which the bandits of Italy profess and cherish. So also the repentance required is not the godly sorrow of which the Apostle speaks, but that re- morse which wicked men often experience. These points have been abundantly proved in the preceding pages.1 A coal of fire will burn a man's hand ; it is true the man must be alive, but whether he is a good or bad man makes no difference. The sacra- ments confer grace by their inherent efficacy. It is true the re- cipient must be a believer ; but whether he has what St. Peter calls " the precious faith of God's elect," or the same kind of faith that Simon Magus had, makes no difference.
2. That this is the true doctrine of the Church of Rome is evi- dent from the manner in which it is presented by its leading the- ologians. This appears from the great distinction which they make between the sacraments of the Old, and those of the New Testament. The former only signified, the latter confer grace. The latter are effectual " ex opere operato ; " the former, as Thomas Aquinas says, were effectual only " ex fide et devotione suscipientis." Again, the necessity of anything good in the re- cipient is expressly denied. Thus Gabriel Biel (|1495) says : ¥ Sacramentum dicitur conferre gratiam ex opere operato, ita quod ex eo ipso, quod opus illud, puta sacramentum, exhibitur, nisi im- pediat obex peccati mortalis, gratia conf ertur utentibus ; sic quod praeter exhibitionem signi f oris exhibiti non requiritur bonus motus
1 See above, the chapter on Faith.