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 SACRAMENTS

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SACRAMENTS

but because at that time there existed no written sujH'rnatural hvw — salvation was granted through faith in the promised Redeemer, and men expressed that faith by some external signs. What those signs should be God did not determine, leaving this to the people, most probably to the leaders or heads of families, who were guided in their choice by an interior inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This is the conception of St. Thomas, who says that, as under the law of nature (when there was no written law), men were guided by interior inspiration in worshiping God, so also they determined what signs should be used in the external acts of worship (III, Q. Ix, a. 5, ad 3um). Afterwards, however, as it was necessary to give a ■wTitten law: (a) because the law of nature had been obscured by sin, and (b) because it was time to give a more explicit knowledge of the grace of Christ, then also it became necessary to determine what external signs should be used as sacraments (ibid., and Q. Ixi, a. 3, ad 2"'"). This was not necessary imme- diately after the Fall, by reason of the fullness of faith and knowledge imparted to Adam. But about the time of Abraham, when faith had been weakened, many had fallen into idolatry, and the light of reason had been obscured by indulgence of the passions, even unto the commission of sins against nature, God intervened and appointed as a sign of faith the rite of circumcision (Gen., xvii; St. Thomas, III, Q. Ixx, a. 2, ad 1"™; see Circumcision).

The vast majority of theologians teach that this ceremony was a sacrament and that it was instituted as a remedy for original sin; consequently that it conferred grace, not indeed of itself (ex opere operato), but by reason of the faith in Christ which it ex- pressed. "In circumcisione conferebatur gratia, non ex virtute circumcisionis, sed ex virtute fidei pas- sionis Christi futurae, cujus signum erat circumcisio — quia scilicet justitia erat ex fide significata, non ex circumcisione significante " (St. Thomas, III, Q. Ixx, a. 4). Certainly it was at least a sign of some- thing sacred, and it was appointed and determined by God himself as a sign of faith and as a mark by which the faithful were distinguished from unbelievers. It was not, however, the only sign of faith used under the law of nature. It is incredible, writes St. Augus- tine, that before circumcision there was no sacrament for the relief (justification) of children, although for some good reason the Scriptures do not tell us what that sacrament was (Cont. Jul., Ill, xi). The sacri- fice of Melchisedech, the sacrifice of the friends of Job, the various tithes and oblations for the service of God are mentioned by St. Thomas (III, Q. Ixi, a. 3, ad Sum; Q. ixv, a. 1, ad 7"™) as external observ- ances which may be considered as the sacred signs of that time, prefiguring future sacred institutions: hence, he adds, they may be called sacraments of the law of nature.

(c) Sacraments of the Mosaic Law. — As the time for Christ's coming dn;w nearer, in order that the Israehtcs might be better instructed (iod spoke to Moses, revealing t« him in detail the sacred signs and ceremonies by which they were to manifest more explicitly their faith in the future Redeemer. Those signs and ceremonies were the sacraments of the Mosaic Law, "which are compared to the sacraments which were before the law as something determined to something undetermined, because before the law it had not been deterininr;d what signs men should uw;" (St. Thomas, III, Q. Ixi, a. 3, ad 2um). With the Angelic D(x-Ujr (I-II, Q. cii, a. 5) theologians usually divide the; saeraments of this period into three daswis: (1) The cfiremonies by which men were ma/le and signed as worshippers or ministers of (Jod. Thus we have Caj circumcision, instituterl in the time of Abraham (Gen., xvii), renewed in the time of Moses (lyfv., xii, 3) for all thr- j)eople; and (b) the sacred rites by which the Levitical priests were consecrated.

(2) The ceremonies which consisted in the use of things pertaining to the service of God, i. e. (a) the paschal lamb for all the people, and (b) the loaves of proposition for the ministers. (3) The ceremonies of i)urification from legal contamination, i. e. (a) for the people, various expiations, (b) for the priests, the Wiishing of hands and feet, the shaving of the head, etc. St. Augustine says the sacraments of the Old Law were abolished because they had been fulfilled (cf. Matt., V, 17), and others have been instituted which are more efficacious, more useful, easier to administer and to receive, fewer in number ("virtute majora, utilitate meliora, actu faciliora, numero pau- ciora", Cont. Faust., XIX, xiii). The Council of Trent condemns those who say that there is no difference except in the outward rite between the sacraments of the Old Law and those of the New Law (Sess. VII, can. ii). The Decree for the Armenians, pub- lished by order of the Council of Florence, says that the sacraments of the Old Law did not confer grace, but only prefigured the grace which was to be given by the Passion of Christ. This means that they did not give grace of themselves (i. e. ex opere operato) but only by reason of the faith in Christ which they represented — "ex fide significata, non ex circumci- sione significante" (St. Thomas, loc. cit.).

II. Nature of the Sacraments of the New Law. — (1) Definition of a sacrament. — The sacra- ments thus far considered were merely signs of sacred things. According to the teaching of the Cathohc Church, accepted to-day by many Episcopalians, the sacraments of the Christian dispensation are not mere signs; they do not merely signify Divine grace, but in virtue of their Divine institution, they cause that grace in the souls of men. "Signum sacro sanc- tum efficax gratia;" — a sacrosanct sign producing grace, is a good, succinct definition of a sacrament of the New Law. Sacrament, in its broadest accep- tation, may be defined as an external sign of some- thing sacred. In the twelfth century Peter Lombard (d. 1164), known as the Master of the Sentences, author of the first manual of systematizeri theology, gave an accurate definition of a sacrament of the New Law: A sacrament is in such a manner an outward sign of inward grace that it bears its image (i. e. signifies or represents it) and is its cause — "Sacra- mentum proprie dicitur quod ita signum est gratiae Dei, et invisibilis gratiae forma, ut ipsius imaginem gerat et causa existat" (IV Sent., d. I, n. 2). This definition was adopted and perfected by the medieval Scholastics. From St. Thomas we have the short but very expressive definition: The sign of a sacred thing in so far as it sanctifies men — "Signum rei sacrie in quantum est sanctificans homines" (III, Q. Ix, a. 2).

All the creatures of the universe proclaim some- thing sacred, namely, the wisdom and the goodness of God, as they are sacred in themselves, not as they are sacred things sanctifying nu>n, hence; they can- not be called sacraments in the sense in which we speak of sacraments (ibid., ad lum). The Council of Trent includes the substance of these two defini- tions in the following: "Symbolum rei sacnc, et in- visibihs gratiie forma visibilis, sanctificandi vim habens" — A symbol of something sacred, a visible form of invisibU; grace, having the power of sanctifying (Sess. XIII, cap. 3). The "Catechism of the Council of Trent" gives a more com- plete definition: Something perceptible by the senses which by Divine institution has the power both U) signify and to effect sanctity and justice (II, n. 2). Catholic catechisms in English usually have the follfjwing: An outward sign of inward grace, a sacrerl and mysterious sign or ceremony, onlained by Christ, by which grace is conveyed to our souls. Anglican;ind Ej)iscopaIian theologies and catechisms give definitions which Catholics could accept (see,