§ 113. THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. 703
and burial among the sacraments. The Catholic Church to day makes a distinction between certain sacred rites, called sacramentalia, and the seven sacraments.1 Thomas gave as the reason for this number seven — that three is the number of the Deity, four of creation, and seven represents the union of God and man.2
Ingenious and elaborate attempts were made to correlate the seven sacraments to all of man's spiritual maladies and to show their "congruity" or adaptation to meet all the requirements of fallen and redeemed human nature.3 Baptism corresponds to the defect of spiritual life, confirmation to mental weakness found in those recently born, the eucharist to the temptation to fall into sin, — labilitas animi ad peccandum, — penance to sins committed after baptism, extreme unction to the remain ders of sin not cleared away by penance, ordination to the lost condition of mankind, matrimony to concupiscence, and the liability of mankind to become extinct by natural death.
The number seven also corresponds to the seven virtues, — baptism, extreme unction, and the eucharist to faith, hope, and love, ordination to enlightenment, penance to righteous ness, marriage to continence, and confirmation to endurance. Bonaventura elaborates at length a stimulating comparison to a military career. The sacraments furnish grace for the spiritual struggle and strengthen the warrior on the various stages of his conflict. Baptism equips him on entering the conflict, confirmation encourages him in its progress, extreme unction helps him at the finish, the eucharist and penance re new his strength, orders introduce new recruits into the ranks, and marriage prepares men to be recruits. Augustine had compared the sacraments to the badges and rank conferred upon the soldier, a comparison Thomas Aquinas took up.4
1 Hergenrother, Kathol. Kirchenrecht., pp. 667 sq.
2 Alb. Magnus has a long treatment, Cur sint sacr. septem, In IV. Sent. , I. 2, vol. XXIX. 6-11.
8 See Bonaventura, Brevil., VI. 3, Peltier's ed., VII. 314; Thomas Aq., Summa, Migne's ed., IV. 594 sq.
4 Bonaventura, Brevil., VI. 3; Th. Aq., Summa, III. 63. 1, Migne's ed., JV. 571.
704 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
The sacraments were not needed in man's estate of inno cence. Marriage which was then instituted was a " function of nature " and nothing more. There were sacraments un der the old covenant as well as under the new. The School men follow Augustine in declaring that the former prefigure the grace to come and the sacraments of the New Testament confer grace.1 With Albertus Magnus and other School men it was a favorite question why woman was not circum cised.2
In defining what a sacrament is — quid est sacramentum — the Schoolmen started with Augustine's definition that a sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible grace,3 but went beyond him in the degree of efficiency they ascribe to it. Beginning with Hugo, they assert in unmistakable language that the sacraments, or outward symbols, contain and confer grace, — continere et conferre gratiam, — the language after wards used by the council of Trent. They have a virtue inherent in themselves. The favorite figure for describing their operation is medicine. Hugo 4 said, God is the physi cian, man is the invalid, the priest is the minister or mes senger, grace is the antidote, the sacrament is the vase. The physician gives, the minister dispenses, the vase contains, the spiritual medicine which cures the invalid. If, therefore, the sacraments are the vases of spiritual grace, they do not cure of themselves. Not the bottle, but the medicine, cures the sick. Bonaventura entitled his chapters on the sacraments " Sacramental Medicine." 5
The sacraments are remedies which the great Samaritan
1 Th. Aq., Summa, III. 62. 6, Migne, IV. 569, Sacramenta veteris legis non habebant in se aliquam virtutem qua operarentur ad conferendam gratiam justificantem. See for quotations from the Sentences of Thomas, Loofs, p. 301.
2 In IV. Sent., I. 21, vol. XXIX. 37.
8 Abaelard, Introd. ad TheoL, Migne's ed., p. 984, had quoted this defini tion. Albertus Magnus and other Schoolmen subsequent to Hugo, after quoting Augustine, usually quote Hugo, e.g. Peter the Lombard and Th. Aq., III. 66. 1.
4De sacr., I. 9. 4, Migne, 176. 325.
6 Brevil., VI. , Peltier's ed.,VII. 311-330. The Lombard, Alb. Magnus, Th, Aquinas, etc., also use the illustration of medicine.