A

TREATISE

OF

THE SACRAMENTS,

Gathered out of certain Sermons, which the Reverend Father in God, Bishop Jewel, preached at Salisbury.

I HAVE opened unto you the contents of the Lord's Prayer, and shewed you upon Whom we ought to call, and what to ask: and the Articles of our Christian faith, in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; of the Church, of Remission of Sins, of the Resurrection, and of Life everlasting, &c. And I have opened unto you the Ten Commandments, and in them what our duty is towards God, towards our Prince and Magistrates, towards our parents, towards our neighbour, and towards ourselves. All this have I done simply and plainly, without any shew of

learning, that it might the better sink into our hearts.

Now I think good to speak of the Sacraments of the Church, that all you may know what they are, because you are all partakers of the holy Sacraments. Christ hath ordained them, that by them He might set before our eyes the mysteries of our salvation, 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 the Word we have His promises; in the Sacraments we see them.

It would require a long time, if I should utter what might be said in this matter, especially in laying open such errors and abuses, as have crept into the Church. But I will have regard to this place, and so frame my speech, that the meanest and simplest may reap profit thereby. That you may the better

remember it, I will keep this order. I will shew you, first, What a Sacrament is. Secondly, Who hath ordained them. Thirdly, Wherefore they were ordained, and what they work in us. Fourthly, How many there are. And then I will briefly speak of every one of them.

A Sacrament is an outward and visible sign, whereby God sealeth up His grace in our hearts to the confirmation of our faith. St. Augustine saith, "A Sacrament is a visible sign of grace invisible"." And that we may the better understand him, he telleth us what thing we should call a sign: "A sign is a thing, that besides the sight itself, which it offereth to the senses, causeth of itself some other certain thing to come to knowledge." In Baptism, the water is the sign, and the thing signified is the grace of God. We see the water; but the grace of God is invisible, we cannot see it. Moreover he saith, "Signs, when they are applied to godly things, are called Sacraments." The signification and

↳ Sacramentum est invisibilis gratiæ visibile signum. August. de Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. 1.

Signa, cum ad res divinas adhibentur, Sacramenta vocantur. Ad Marcellinum, Epist. 5.

the substance of the Sacrament is to shew us, how we are washed with the Passion of Christ, and how we are fed with the Body of Christ. And again, "If Sacraments had not a certain likeness and representation of the things whereof they are Sacraments, then indeed they were no Sacraments"." And because of this likeness which they have with the things they represent, they are oftentimes termed by the names of the things themselves. Therefore after a certain manner of speech, (and not otherwise,) the Sacrament of the Body of Christ, is the Body of Christ; and the Sacrament of the Blood of Christ, is the Blood of Christ: so the Sacrament of faith, is faith.

Who hath ordained the Sacraments? Not any Prelate, not any Prince, not any Angel or Archangel, but only God Himself. For He only hath authority to seal the charter, in whose authority only it is to grant it. And only He giveth the pledge, and confirmeth His grace to us, who giveth His grace into our hearts. St. Chrysostom saith, “The Mystery were not of God, nor perfect, if d Aug. Epist. 23. ad Bonifacium.