§ 113. THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. 705
brought for the wounds of original and actual sin. They are more than visible signs and channels of grace. They do more than signify. They sanctify. They are the efficient cause of gracious operations in the recipient. The interior effects, Thomas Aquinas says, are due to Christ,1 or, as he says in another place, to the blessing of Christ and the administra tion of the priest conjoined. The mode of this efficacy is ex opere operato. This expression, used by William of Auxerre and Alexander of Hales, Thomas adopted and says again and again that the sacraments make righteous and confer grace, ex opere operato, that is by a virtue inherent in themselves.2
By this, Thomas Aquinas does not mean that the religious condition of the recipient is a matter of indifference, but that the sacrament imparts its virtue, if need be, without the oper ation of an active faith. The tendency of Protestant writers has been to represent the Schoolmen as ascribing a magical virtue to the visible sacramental symbol, if not irrespective of the divine appointment, then certainly irrespective of the attitude of the recipient. Such is not the view of the School men. Thomas Aquinas distinguishes between the original cause of grace, which is God, and the instrumental cause, which is the sacrament. The virtue of the latter depends upon God's appointment and operation.3 The benefits of Christ's atonement pass over to the faithful through faith and the sacraments.4 The Church, said Bonaventura, received the sacraments from Christ and dispenses them to the salva tion of the faithful.5 The sacraments are efficacious only to those who are of a religious disposition.
1 Interiorem sacramentorum effectum operatur Christus, III. 64. 3, Migne, IV. 583.
• 2 Sacr. justificantetgratiam conferunt ex opere operato. See references in Schwane, p. 581.
3 Summa, III. 62. 1, Migne, IV. 562, causa vero instrumentalis non agit per virtutem suce formce sed solum per motum quo movetur a principali agente.
4 Migne, IV. 568. sq. Virtus pas si onis Christi copulatur nobis per Jidem et sacramenta.
6 Ecclesia sicut sacramenta a Christo accepit sic adfidelium salutem dispensat. Breviloq., VI. 5, Peltier's ed.^ VII. 316. 2z
706 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
Duns Scotus, whose opinions were set aside at the council of Ferrara for those of Thomas Aquinas, insisted that God can confer grace apart from the sacraments, and their efficacy is dependent upon an action of the will. They act indirectly, not directly. Duns controverted Thomas' view that the sac rament is a visible sign containing supernatural virtue in it self absolutely.1 The sacraments involve a psychological process in the soul. As symbols, they remind the soul of God's grace and attract it. A good state of the heart, how ever, is not a meritorious cause of their efficacy. For their reception, it is sufficient if there be no moral impediment, obex, that is, no impeding indisposition.2 It is the excellency of the sacraments of the new law, Duns says, that the very reception of them is a sufficient disposition to grace.3
The relation the priest sustains to the sacraments is a vital one, and except in extraordinary cases his ministration is essential. Their efficacy does not depend upon the priest's personal character, provided only he administer according to the rite of the Church.4 An immoral priest may confer sacramental grace. To use the mediaeval illustration, pure water may be conveyed through a leaden pipe as truly as through a silver pipe. Even if the intention of conferring grace is absent from the mind of the officiating priest, the effi cacy of the sacrament is not destroyed. The priest acts in the name of the Church, and in uttering the words of sacra mental appointment he gives voice to the intention of the Church. This intention is sufficient for the perfection of the sacrament in any given case. Ultimately, it is Christ who works the effect of the sacrament and not the priest through
1See Seeberg, Duns Scotus, pp. 356-358.
*Non requiritur bonus motus qui mereatur gratiam sed sufficit quod suscipiens non ponat obicem. In Sent., IV. 1. 6, quoted by Schwane, p. 581. Nisi impediat indisposhio, quoted by Seeberg, p. 343.
3 Susceptio est dispositio suffidens ad gratiam. Seeberg, p. 349. For the differences between the Thomists and Scotists on the sacraments, see also Harnack, II. 483.
4 Ministri ecclesim possunt sacramenta conferre etiamsi sint malL Th. Aq., Migne's ed., IV. 580, 821, 824.