though it is not lawful for Women to undertake that office to baptize, which peradventure belongs not unto them; yet the Baptism being done, we hold it lawful.* It is not a thing less usual in the apprehension of truths, through the weakness of our understanding, to ascribe too little to that, which, in all reason, hath great virtue; than to allow overmuch to that, which hath no virtue at all. It fareth with men, in this kind, as it doth with some deceitful artificers; who bestow most art and outward additions where, inwardly there is least value, whilst they leave that altogether unfurnished, which is able to expose it to sale by his [its] own worth. It is our fault, no less violently, to extol what our fancies make us to account excellent, than to dispraise things truly commendable in their own nature, because only they have gained this disadvantage, To be disliked by us. So that whosoever maketh either praise or dispraise, to be a rule of judgment; or the judgment of some few, to be a sign of value; he, with like hazard, equally erreth in both. For times and places, violent circumstances of that which men say with or against, breed infinite variety of alterations where things are the same; and out of Commendation alone (a strange effect!) Dispraise, like a monster, doth spring up. It being cause sufficient, to distempered humours, vehemently to dislike only in this respect, That others do commend the same. Wherein the safest, and most charitable direction will be absolutely, in that violent opposition, to believe neither; but even from both, to derive a truth much sounder than that which either holdeth. From hence, hath it come to pass, that, whilst they of the Church of Rome have, peradventure, ascribed too much to Works; some of us, too little; others, have set down an equality, dissenting from both. Thus, in the matter of the Sacraments, (things of greatest and most hidden virtue left unto the Church, for they are Mysteries) some, have been thought to derive that power to them which belongeth to God only; which, whilst others sought to avoid, they have even deprived them of that grace which God, doubtless in truth, hath bestowed upon them. In this kind, you are of opinion, that Mr. Hooker hath erred; who, as you imagine, hath ascribed to the Sacraments, far more (following therein the steps of the Church of Rome) than either the Scripture, the Articles of our Church, or the exposition of our Reverend Bishops and others, do. For the Fathers (say you) make the Sacraments only" Seals"† of assurance, by which the Spirit worketh invisibly, to strengthen our faith: and therefore, they call them "visible words, seals of righteousness, and + [Ibid. p. 204.] * [Vol. II. p. 245.] tokens of grace.' That they do, and say thus, there is no man doubteth; but we are not yet persuaded that this is all, or “the furthest" (as you allege)" that they say;" because undoubtedly we are assured, that they have learned both to know and to speak otherwise. For the Sacraments' "chiefest force, and virtue consisteth in this, That they are heavenly Ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administered in his Church: First, as Marks to know when God doth impart his vital or Saving Grace of Christ, unto all that are capable thereof; and, secondly, as Means Conditional, which God requireth in them unto whom he imparteth Grace." For doubtless, it must needs be a great unthankfulness, and easily breed contempt, to ascribe only that power to them to be but as Seals; and that they teach but the mind, by other sense, as the Word doth by Hearing: which if it were all, what reason hath the Church to bestow any Sacrament upon Infants who as yet, for their years, are not capable of any instruction; "there is, therefore, of Sacraments, undoubtedly some more excellent and heavenly Use. Sacraments, by reason of their mixed nature, are more diversely interpreted, and disputed of than any other part of Religion besides; for that in so great store of properties belonging to the self-same thing, as every man's wit hath taken hold of some especial consideration above the rest; so they have accordingly given their censure of the use and necessity of them. For if respect be had to the Duty which every communicant doth undertake, we may call them truly bonds of our obedience to God; strict obligations to the mutual exercise of Christian charity; provocations to godliness; preservations from sin; memorials of the principal benefits of Christ. If we respect the Time of their institution, they are annexed for ever unto the New Testament; as other Rites were before with the Old. If we regard the Weakness that is in us, they are warrants for the more security of our belief. If we compare the Receivers with those that receive them not, they are works § of distinction to separate God's own from strangers; and in those that receive them as they ought, they are tokens of God's gracious presence, whereby men are taught, to know what they cannot see. For Christ and his Holy Spirit, with all their blessed effects, though entering into the soul of man we are not able to apprehend or express how, do notwithstanding give notice of the times when they use to make their access, because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate, by sensible means, those blessings which are incomprehensible. Seeing, therefore, that Grace is a consequent of Sacraments; a thing which accompanieth them as their end; a benefit which he that hath, receiveth from God himself, the Author of Sacraments, and not from * Jewel. Apol. Ang. cap. 10. div. 1. ↑ [Vol. II. p. 204.] § ["Marks," sic Hooker.] [Idem.] any other natural or supernatural quality in them; it may be hereby both understood, that Sacraments are necessary; and, that the manner of their necessity to life supernatural is not, in all respects, as food unto natural life. Because they contain in themselves, no vital force or efficacy; but they are duties of service and worship; which unless we perform as the Author of grace requireth, they are unprofitable : for, all receive not the grace of God, which receive the Sacraments of his grace. Neither is it, ordinarily, his will, to bestow the grace of Sacraments upon any, but by the Sacraments: which grace also, they that receive by Sacraments, or with Sacraments, receive it from him, and not from them. That saving grace, which Christ originally is, or hath for the general good of his whole Church, by Sacraments he severally deriveth into every member thereof. They serve as Instruments; the use is in our hands, the effect is his."* And this made the schoolmen, and the rest, (which you are afraid to grant) to say, that the sacraments were not only signs, but causes of our justification. Now agent causes, we know, are of two sorts; principal, which worketh by the virtue and power of his [its] form; as, fire maketh hot and thus, nothing can cause Grace, but God himself; Grace being a participation of "the Divine nature." Instrumental, which worketh not as the other, by virtue of his [its] own proper form, but only by that motion which it hath from the principal, and first agent. Thus do Sacraments work; and therefore, saith St. Austin, the Sacraments are finished, performed, and pass away; but the virtue of God, that worketh by them, or with them, remaineth.§ Thus for the Use of them, the Church hath God's express commandment; for the Effect, his conditional promise; so that without our obedience to the one, there is of the other no apparent assurance; as contrariwise, where the Signs and Sacraments of his Grace are not, either through contempt unreceived, or received with contempt, we are not to doubt but that they really give what they promise, and are what they signify. For we take not the Sacraments (as it seemeth you do) for bare resemblances, or memorials of things absent; neither, for naked signs, and testimonies assuring us of Grace received before, but (as they are indeed and in truth) for means effectual, whereby God, when we take the Sacraments, delivereth into our hands that Grace, available unto eternal life; which Grace, the Sacraments represent or signify and yet we acknowledge, as Hugo saith, that the Sacraments, being, as he calleth them, vessels of grace, they cure not of themselves, no more than glasses do, the sick; but, the potions contained in them. Neither doth any man * [Vol. II. p. 203-206.] § Cont. Faust. cap. 19. † Aquin. Part. III. quest. 62. ¶ Bel. de Sacr. Tom. II. lib. ii. cap. 1. Calv. Inst. lib. iv. cap. 14. sect. 17. 2 Pet. i. 4. say, (no, not the Church of Rome; although they be so accused, by some of us) that the Sacraments work of themselves, by a virtue resigned unto them, without God, merely of the work done actively; but that God worketh by them, as by instruments powerful, and thought in his wisdom fittest. For doubtless, the Church hath authority to use the Word and the Sacraments, as powerful means of regeneration, both having by a divine ordination, a force and virtue to beget Faith: and therefore justly, amongst all the treasures that God hath left unto his Church, we honour and admire most, the holy Sacraments; not respecting so much the service which we do unto God in receiving them, as the dignity of that sacred and secret gift which we thereby receive from God. And therefore, when our Church saith, that "Sacraments are not only marks of Christian profession ; but rather certain testimonies and effectual signs of Grace, and of the good-will of God towards us, by which God worketh invisibly in us; "* we thereby conceive, how Grace is indeed, the very end for which these heavenly mysteries were instituted; and, besides sundry other properties observed in them, the matter whereof they consist, is such as signifieth, figureth, and representeth their end for surely Sacraments are the powerful instruments of God unto eternal life. For, as the natural life consisteth in the union of the body with the soul; so the spiritual life, in the union of the soul with God. And forasmuch as there is no union of God with man, without that mean between both, which is both; nor this participated to us, without the Sacraments; the virtue must needs be great that God by these imparteth unto his Church. For they are Signs, not only signifying, but (as M. Zanchy saith) exhibiting also invisible Grace. For God directly affirmeth, that he giveth that with the sign, which, by the sign he representeth. In the Sacraments, we acknowledge three things: The Word, the Element, the Thing signified by the Word and represented by the element; and all these united, yet not by any real or physical union, that one cannot be received without the other; but, in these, the union is sacramental, and the order mystical, betwixt the signs and the things signified, by an institution from God. Whereby it cometh to pass, that heavenly and spiritual things by signs bodily and earthly, are signified, offered, and by the virtue of the Holy Ghost, really exhibited, and performed unto the elect. Thus, if either the signs, or the thing signified, be wanting, it ceaseth truly to be a Sacrament. Neither is Grace necessarily tied ever to the external Sacrament: for we give the one, and God giveth the other; and, when both are given, then is the Sacra Eccles. Ang. Art. XXV. "Alia sunt sacramenta dantia salutem, alia promittentia salvatorem." Auc. in Exibentia. Zanch. in Decal. lib. i. cap. 16. p. 396. Psalm 1xxiii. you are ment faithfully received. Thus God justifieth "by the washing of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost: "* for this being the effect of his promise, the Sacraments apply it unto us, by thus giving it; Faith by thus receiving; both, being as instruments. For God doth justify by the Sacraments; man, by Faith; but God, one and the same, maketh righteous by both; he being the author from whence they both come. Therefore "it is a branch of belief" (howsoever you scoff at it as omitted in our Creed), "That Sacraments are in their place," as Master Hooker saith, 66 no less required than belief itself. For when our Saviour promiseth eternal life, it is with this condition, as health to Naaman the Syrian, Wash and be clean."" But afraid to say that the Sacraments beget Faith, although you confess that they do increase it. Surely this is a fear like to the disposition of some melancholy humour where fancy, growing strong, forceth an avoidance of things oftentimes that are without danger: for to make Sacraments and the Word to be joined with Faith, both in his [its] generation, and in our justification, is neither to rob Faith of his [its] proper office, nor to ascribe more unto the Sacrament than of right belongeth. For we are not in any doubt to affirm, that the Sacraments, by the work done, actively, do not afford Grace; though rightly understood, passively, they may, by the work done: for in that justification and means of righteousness, whereof man is made partaker by the Sacraments, many things concur. First, in God's behalf, a Will that we should use those sensible elements; in Christ's behalf, his Passion, from which the Sacraments have their virtue; in the Minister's behalf, his Power, his Will; in the receiver's behalf, Will, Faith, Repentance; in respect of the Sacrament itself, the external action, which ariseth out of the fit application of the matter and the form of the Sacraments. Now, that which in all this, actively and instrumentally bringeth Grace, is the external action, which is commonly called the Sacrament: this having his [its] virtue from his [its] institution, and not from any merit, either in the Minister or in him that receiveth. For the Will of God, which useth the Sacraments as that means of Grace which it hath ordained, concurreth actively, but as a principal cause; the Passion of Christ concurreth as a cause meritorious; the Power and the Will of the Minister, necessarily concur, but as causes further removed; having their use only in effecting the sacramental action; in whose due circumstances, of administering, he is unwilling to fail. Will, Faith, and Repentance, are necessarily required in the Receiver that is of years; not as active causes, but as fit dispositions, for the subject; for Faith and Repentance, make not the sacramental grace, nor give * Tit. iii. 5. VOL. II. † 2 Kings v. 14. Vol. II. p. 216. M M [Ibid. p. 205.] |