§118. THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. 707
any virtue of his own.1 Here, too, Thomas followed Augus tine.
On this point also, Duns differed from the great Do minican by declaring that " a virtual intention " on the part of the celebrant is essential to the efficacy of the sacrament. He illustrates his position by a pilgrim on the way to the shrine of St. James. The pilgrim may not think of St. James during the whole progress of his journey, but he starts out with " a virtual intention " to go to his shrine and keeps on the way. So a priest, during the progress of the sacramental celebration, may allow his mind to wander and forget what he is doing, but he has the virtual intention of performing the rite.2
The sacraments may be " useful," said Bonaventura, if per formed outside of the Church, provided the recipient after wards enter " holy mother Church." This he illustrates by Augustine's comparison of the sacraments to the four rivers of paradise. The rivers flowed into different lands. But nei ther to Mesopotamia nor Egypt did they carry the felicity of life, though they were useful.3 So it is with the sacraments when administered outside of the pale of the true Church.
The sacraments are not all of equal necessity. Baptism alone is indispensable to eternal life. Baptism and the eucharist are the mightiest, but of all the most mighty — potissimum — is the eucharist, and for three reasons: 1. It contains Christ himself after a substantial manner. 2. The other sacraments are preparatory to it. 3. All the faithful partake of it — adults who are baptized, as well as those who are in orders. Three sacraments have an indelible character, — baptism, ordination, and confirmation. Their mark cannot be effaced nor may they be repeated. They are related to salvation as food is related to life. The other four
lMinistri non gratiam conferunt sua virtute, sed hocfacit Christus suapotestate per eos sicutper qucedam instrumenta. Th. Aq., III. 64. 5, Migne, IV. 586.
2 Seeberg, p. 350.
3 Brevil., Peltier's ed., p. 317. The illustration is carried out at length and is very interesting as an example of pious niediseval homiletics.
T08 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1291.
sacraments are necessary to salvation only in the way a horse is necessary to a journey.1
The Schoolmen were not fully agreed as to the author of some of the sacraments. Peter the Lombard expressly said that extreme unction was instituted by the Apostles. Alex ander of Hales, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas held they were all instituted by Christ.2
Hugo of St. Victor said, God might have saved man with out the sacraments but no man can be saved who rejects them.3 They were to the mediaeval mind the essential food of the religious life, and, in building up the sacramental system, the mediaeval theologian felt he was fortifying the very fabric of the Church. In the authority to administer them lay the power of the priesthood to open and shut the king dom of heaven, to pass the judgment of bliss or woe for this life and for the life to come. This sacramental theory, based now upon a false now upon a one-sided interpreta tion of Scripture, and compactly knit by argumentation, substituted the mechanical efficiency of sacramental grace for the Saviour into whose immediate presence the soul has a right to approach through penitence of heart and prayer. The sacramental system became the Church's Babylonish captivity, as Luther called it in his famous tract, in which the rights and liberty of the Christian believer are fettered by the traditions of men.
§ 114. Baptism and Confirmation.
Baptism is the door to the other sacraments and to the kingdom of heaven.4' It is essential to salvation, except for persons who desire to be baptized and have not the oppor tunity to receive the rite. The desire on their part to be
iTh. Aq., III. 65. 4, Migne, IV. 601.
2 See also Duns Scotus, see Seeberg, p. 338.
3 De sacr., II. 9, 5, Migne, 176. 325. potuit Deus hominem salvare siista non instituisset, sed homo nullatenus salvari posset siista contemneret.
4 Janua omnium aliorum sacramentorum. Bonavent., Srevil. VII., Pel tier's ed., p. 318; Th. Aq., Summa, III. 62. 6, Migne, IV. 569; Supplem, XXXV. 1, Migne, IV. 1047.