Jones on Article XXV: Of the Sacraments

B To what end, and to whom the sacraments must be given, St. Paul teacheth, Rom. iv. where he calleth circumcision, ’ Sphragida ejus justitiae acceptationis in gratiam Dei, quae per ficlcm apprehenditur.’ It is the mark and seal of acceptation into God’s grace, received before by faith. And this external sacrament was as the conclusion and sealing up of all that God had promised unto Abraham before, to say In te benedicentur. omnes gentes terras, with many other promises, as it is expressed in the book of Genesis, from the 12th eh. to the 17th. where as circumcision was given ; for this word sphragizo signifieth ’ si- gillo notare, insignire, et concludere,’ (to seal, to sign, and to conclude). ’ Ey the which word and text of Paul it is manifest that by the sacraments God’s promises be not first given unto man, but that by the sacraments, the promise received is con- firmed, for Paul, discernit applicationem gi-atia3, ab ipsa cir- cumcisione’ (distinguishes the impartation of grace from circum- cision itself,) ’ as in the same 4th chapter he sheweth more plainly, where he declareth the condition of Abraam ; what he was before he received this sacrament, proveth him first to be the friend of God. As a man first assured of God, he received this sacrament, and sought not first to find him in an external

sign Read the tenth chapter of Numbers, when as the

children of Israel departed from the desert of Sinai into the desert of Pharan, in warlike order, every man appointed unto

his captain, and under what banner he should be Now

note what a sign is in this place. A mark or open token whereby every man in the host knew unto what captain and company he should resort ; and when every man was in his proper place, the one knew by these signs and banners of what lineage and progeny the other was. Here seest thou, christian reader, what a sign is, a declaration of the person unto what captain and tribe he appertained. The signs made no man of the tribe of Juda, but declared him that was in that ward to be of the tribe of Juda. Here is the sign, and the tiling signified

by the sign well declared all tlie sacraments that be, or in

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time past hath been, are none other thing than testimonies of this good-will and favour of God towards us, appointed in the church to lead our faith unto Christ the only sacrifice for sin.” — Answer to Bishop Winchester’s book.

” They take from the sacraments too much that say they be but external signs to know the church of Christ by, from such as

be not of the church or those that say they may be done and

left undone, as it pleaseth man that useth them. They add too much to the sacraments that attribute as much unto them, as unto the grace and promise that they confirm : as to the sacra- ment of baptism, remission of sin, when it is but an external confirmation of it, Rom. iv. ; and unto the holy supper of the Lord they attribute a distribution, deliverance, or exhibition of Christ’s natural body ; whereas it is but a confirmation of the grace and mercy that he bought for us upon the cross, with shedding his precious blood, and death of his innocent body.” — Decl. of the Ten Commandments.

” St. Austin, an elder and holy father of Christ’s Church, and a man of a most ripe judgment and sharp wit in the scrip- tures, in his book De Catechizandis Budibus, defineth a sacrament thus, Sacramentum est signaculum invisibilis gratia?, a sacra- ment is a visible, a sensible, and an outward sign or token of an invisible grace or benefit. And he expresseth the meaning of

this definition more plainly in a certain letter where he wit-

nesseth all sacraments to be figures and similitudes of the benefit and grace which they do represent and signify, saying, ’ If sacraments have not certain similitudes of these things whereof they are sacraments, then arc they no sacraments ? And for this similitude for the most part they take the names of the very things.” — Second Sermon on the Lord’s Supper.

” I remember there be many definitions of a sacrament in Augustine ; but I will take that which seemeth most fit to this

present purpose. A sacrament is a visible sign of invisible grace. True it is every sacrament hath grace annexed unto it instrunientally. But there is divers understanding of this word habct ’ hath,’ for the sacrament hath not grace included in it ; but to those that receive it well, it is turned to grace.” — Dispu- tation at Oxford.

” St. Augustine saith that Christ in the New Testament was content with few sacraments in number, but which were in sig- nification most worthy, as Baptism and the Lord’s Supper ; but the Pope hath made so many as pleased him, and that such as no Scripture can allow.” — Expos, on Aggeus.

” And because he says that we swerve from St. Austin, and other blessed fathers and saints, which had mass and seven sac- raments; who those fathers and saints be, I would he had named them, that it might be seen how truly he says. I think he durst not, nor yet can, lest he be taken with a loud lie.”

” We use six of them that he calls sacraments as well as

they, though not without great reason we forbear to call them sacraments ; and differ much in the doctrine, the order, and the using of them, with other ceremonies and language than they

do He says here, that there be seven sacraments necessary

to salvation ; and yet within few words following he denies marriage to priests ; and that is as much to say, as either that marriage is no sacrament, or that priests shall not be saved.” — Confutation of an addition.

” I do not say that the receiving only niaketk it a sacrament ; but I say that a common receiving must needs be concurrent with the true sacrament as a necessary member, without the which it cannot be a sacrament ; because Christ hath made this a principal part of the sacrament, ’ Take ye, eat ye,’ which you do not in your mass according to Christ’s institution. Where- fore, it can be no sacrament, for that it wanteth of Christ’s institution.” — Ninth Examination.

AN” EXPOSITION OF THE

“And now to Confirmation I shall prove to be no sacra- ment. And first, where ye snatch a piece of Augustine wherein he calleth the Chrism a sacrament, I answer ; that he attri- buted no more thereto, than otherwise to prayer and to the word of God. Yea, the master of the Sentences himself teacheth you, that many things improperly be called sacraments, which must not in reasoning be numbered among the sacra- ments of Christ His church I will reason with you as Christ

did with the Pharisees. Is the Confirmation (which you call a sacrament) ordained to be so from heaven or of men ? If it be of men, it is no sacrament. If it be of God, then shew the word. Ye have the example of the Apostles in the cha. viii. and xix. of the Acts ; but no example suffieeth for a sacrament. To come to your Holy Orders ; which, among your sacra- ments, ye put in the third place The Ministry of the word,

commended unto us by Christ himself, I can well admit to be a sacrament ; and therefore allow, in a right sense, the title that Augustine doth give unto it. For therein is a ceremony, that is taken out of the word of God, and a sign of spiritual grace conferred, as Paul doth witness : yet am I not contrary to myself herein who before affirmed that there were only two

sacraments of the church — Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

But ordering of ministers is a special thing ; contracted to a few belonging only to a peculiar function ; so may it well be called a sacrament, and yet be denied to be a sacrament of the

Church For before Gregory’s time, although every man

granted matrimony to be an holy ordinance of God, yet, who ever affirmed it to be a sacrament? Forsooth (say you) Ambrose Augustine and Leo. So the same Ambrose calleth the words and works of Christ whereby he shewed his divinity, hidden otherwise in God, a sacrament. And Augustine hath nothing more familiar in him, than sacramenta script urarum, ’ the

sacraments of the scriptures.’ But to your reason, whereby

ye prove penance to be a sacrament ’ The visible sign is the

external act of the priest absolving the penitent.’ By this

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reason ye prove better absolution to be a sacrament than

penance Now as for extreme Unction ’ The apostles

anointed with oil many sick folks and they were healed : the priests anoint every sick body, and none of them is the better. Ye have a common proverb in your law, Accessorium sequi naturam principalis : ’ That the accessory thing doth follow the nature of the principal.’ “Wherefore since the principal is gone, the working of miracles and healing of the sick, what shall we do with the accessory, the sign thereof, and outward anointing? — Answer to the Treatise of the Cross.

” The sacraments of themselves do not confer and give grace, neither bring salvation of their own virtue, power, and dignity, (as the papists teach) but that they are testimonies, signs and seals of God’s grace, favour, and mercy toward us, and do lively represent and set forth unto us the great clemency and singular

goodness of God toward all such as repent and in fine, that

the sacraments are the very same to the believing Christian, that, ’ the word of God is,’ as St. Austin saith, ’ A sacrament is a visible word.’ For look what the word of God is to the ear of a Christian, the very same is the sacrament to the eye of a Christian ; and the Holy Ghost worketh mightily by them

both They are not received in vain of them that come

worthily unto them, and know the right use of them, and unto what end they were ordained of our Lord and Master Christ.” — Pref. to Early Writings.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMEIi.

” The Scripture sheweth not what a sacrament is : neverthe- less where in the Latin text we have sacramentum, there in the

Greek we have mysterium The scripture sheweth not how

many sacraments there be ; but incarnatio Christi and matrimo- mum be called in the scripture mysteria, and therefore we may call them by the scripture sacramenta. But one sacrament ma the scripture maketh mention of which is hard to be revealed

fully, (as would to God it were !) and that is mysterium iniqnita-

tis, or mysterium meretricis magna: et bestice By the ancient

puthors there be many sacraments more than seven ; for all the figures which signified Christ to come, or testify that he is come, be called sacraments, as all the figures of the old law and the new law and all the parables of Christ, with the pro- phecies of the Apocalypse and such other, be called by the doctors sacramenta The determinate number of seven sacra- ments is no doctrine of scripture nor of the old authors I

find not in scripture the matter, nature and effect of all those which we call the seven sacraments, but only of certain of

them: — as of baptism of eucharista, of penance But the

scripture speaketh not of penance, as we call it, a sacrament, consisting in three parts — contrition, confession, and satisfac- tion ; but the scripture taketh penance for a pure conversion

of a sinner, in heart and mind, from his sins unto God Of

matrimony, also, I find very much in scripture and in

this matrimony is also a promise of salvation, if the parents bring up their children in the faith, fear, and love of God.”

“Of the matter, nature, and effect of the other three, that is

to say, confirmation, order, and extreme unction, I read nothing in the scripture, as they be taken for […] and Answers concerning the Sacraments.

” I say (according to God’s word and the doctrine of the old writers) that Christ is present in his sacraments, as they teach also, that he is present in his word when he worketh mightily

by the same in the hearts of the hearers he worketh with

his word, using the voice of the speaker as his instrument to work by ; as he useth also his sacraments whereby he worketh, and therefore is said to be present in them.” — First Booh of the Sacrament.

” This word ’ sacrament ’ I do sometimes use (as it is many times taken among writers and holy doctors) for the sacramen- tal bread, water, or wine But where I use to speak some- times (as the old authors do) that Christ is in the sacraments I

mean the same as they did understand the matter ; that is to say, not of Christ’s carnal presence in the outward sacrament, but sometimes of his sacramental presence. And sometime by this word ‘sacrament,’ I mean the whole ministration and receiving of the sacraments either of baptism or of the Lord’s supper : and so the old writers many times do say that Christ and the Holy Ghost be present in the sacraments ; not meaning by that manner of speech that Christ and the Holy Ghost be present in the water, bread, or wine, (which be only the out- ward visible sacraments) but that in the due ministration of the sacraments according to Christ’s ordinance and institution, Christ and his Holy Spirit be truly and indeed present, by their mighty and sanctifying power, virtue, and grace, in all them that worthily receive the same.” — Pref. to First Book on the Sacrament.

” Christ hath ordained them ” (the sacraments) ” that by them he might set before our eyes the mysteries of our salva- tion, and might more strongly confirm the faith which we have in his blood, and might seal his grace in our hearts. As princes’ seals confirm and warrant their deeds and charters, so do the sacraments witness unto our conscience that God’s promises are true, and shall continue for ever. Thus doth God make known his secret purpose to his church ; first he declareth his mercy by his word, then he sealeth it and assureth it by his sacraments. In this word we have his promises ; in the sacra- ments we see them St. Augustine saith, ’ A sacrament is a

visible sign of grace invisible,’ and ’ a sign is a thing that besides the sight itself which it offereth to the senses, causes of itself some other certain thing to come to knowledge.’ ” Again ” Augustine saith, ’ J oin the word of Christ’s institution with the sensible creature, and thereof is made a sacrament.” Join the word to the creature of water, and thereof is made the sacrament of baptism ; take away the word, then what is the

water? The first cause why they were ordained is, that

thereby one should acknowledge another as fellows of one house-

hold, anil members of one body Another cause is, to move,

instruct, and teach, our dull and heavy hearts, by sensible crea- tures For if any man have the outward seal, and have not

the faith thereof sealed within his heart, it availeth him not ;

he is but a hypocrite and dissembler When one that is

unlearned and cannot read lookelh upon a book, be the book never so true, never so well written, yet because he knoweth

not letters and cannot read, he looketh upon it in vain But

another that can read, and hath judgment to understand, con- sidered! the whole story the very drift and meaning of him

that wrote it. So do the faithful receive the fruit and comfort by the sacraments, which the wicked and ungodly, neither

consider nor receive The sacraments instituted by Christ

are only two. The sacrament of baptism and of our Lord’s

supper Confirmation was not ordained by Christ. Penance

hath not any outward element joined to the word ; the same may be said of orders. And matrimony was not first instituted by Christ, but God ordained it in paradise long before.” — Treatise on the Sacraments.

” You say that we attribute to the sign that which is proper to the work of God in the blood of Christ, as though virtue were in water to wash away sin. You know very well that we teach far otherwise, and that it is a certain and true doctrine of all such as possess the gospel, that the outward signs of the sacraments, do not contain in them grace, neither yet that the grace of God is of necessity tied unto them, but only that they be seals of God’s promises, notes of Christianity, testimonies and effectual signs of the grace of God, and of our redemption in Christ Jesus ; by the which the Spirit of God doth invisibly work in us, not only the increase of faith, but confirmation also. You understand likewise that this difference there is, betwixt these external elements being selected to be sacramental signs, (for example, betwixt water in baptism and common water ; bread and wine in the eucharist and usual bread and wine,) that these now be sacraments sanctified to another use, to a

spiritual use, to the nourishing of faith and feeding of the soul, to he instruments of the Holy Ghost, by the which as by instruments we be fed to eternal life. Furthermore you cannot be ignorant, that whosoever contemneth these external signs, and refuseth them, cannot be a member of Christ, neither yet saved. Last of all you have learned that there is such a simili- tude betwixt the signs and the thing signified, that they are not only in scripture usually called by the names of those things whereof they be sacraments, (as bread the body of Christ, and water regeneration), but also that the contumely or contempt done to the one, doth redound to the other ; that is, the con- tempt of the figures, is the contempt of the things signified ; and therefore St. Paul saith, 1 Cor. ii. ’ He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own damnation.’ ” — Defence of the Answer.