Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 104 (1/2)

_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Contra Faust. xix) that the sacraments of the Old Law ”were abolished because they were fulfilled; and others were inst.i.tuted, fewer in number, but more efficacious, more profitable, and of easier accomplishment.”

_I answer that,_ As the ancient Fathers were saved through faith in Christ's future coming, so are we saved through faith in Christ's past birth and Pa.s.sion. Now the sacraments are signs in protestation of the faith whereby man is justified; and signs should vary according as they signify the future, the past, or the present; for as Augustine says (Contra Faust. xix), ”the same thing is variously p.r.o.nounced as to be done and as having been done: for instance the word _pa.s.surus_ (going to suffer) differs from _pa.s.sus_ (having suffered).” Therefore the sacraments of the New Law, that signify Christ in relation to the past, must needs differ from those of the Old Law, that foreshadowed the future.

Reply Obj. 1: As Dionysius says (Eccl. Hier. v), the state of the New Law. is between the state of the Old Law, whose figures are fulfilled in the New, and the state of glory, in which all truth will be openly and perfectly revealed. Wherefore then there will be no sacraments.

But now, so long as we know ”through a gla.s.s in a dark manner,” (1 Cor. 13:12) we need sensible signs in order to reach spiritual things: and this is the province of the sacraments.

Reply Obj. 2: The Apostle calls the sacraments of the Old Law ”weak and needy elements” (Gal. 4:9) because they neither contained nor caused grace. Hence the Apostle says that those who used these sacraments served G.o.d ”under the elements of this world”: for the very reason that these sacraments were nothing else than the elements of this world. But our sacraments both contain and cause grace: consequently the comparison does not hold.

Reply Obj. 3: Just as the head of the house is not proved to have a changeable mind, through issuing various commands to his household at various seasons, ordering things differently in winter and summer; so it does not follow that there is any change in G.o.d, because He inst.i.tuted sacraments of one kind after Christ's coming, and of another kind at the time of the Law. Because the latter were suitable as foreshadowing grace; the former as signifying the presence of grace.

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QUESTION 62

OF THE SACRAMENTS' PRINc.i.p.aL EFFECT, WHICH IS GRACE (In Six Articles)

We have now to consider the effect of the sacraments. First of their princ.i.p.al effect, which is grace; secondly, of their secondary effect, which is a character. Concerning the first there are six points of inquiry:

(1) Whether the sacraments of the New Law are the cause of grace?

(2) Whether sacramental grace confers anything in addition to the grace of the virtues and gifts?

(3) Whether the sacraments contain grace?

(4) Whether there is any power in them for the causing of grace?

(5) Whether the sacraments derive this power from Christ's Pa.s.sion?

(6) Whether the sacraments of the Old Law caused grace?

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FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 62, Art. 1]

Whether the Sacraments Are the Cause of Grace?

Objection 1: It seems that the sacraments are not the cause of grace.

For it seems that the same thing is not both sign and cause: since the nature of sign appears to be more in keeping with an effect. But a sacrament is a sign of grace. Therefore it is not its cause.

Obj. 2: Further, nothing corporeal can act on a spiritual thing: since ”the agent is more excellent than the patient,” as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii). But the subject of grace is the human mind, which is something spiritual. Therefore the sacraments cannot cause grace.

Obj. 3: Further, what is proper to G.o.d should not be ascribed to a creature. But it is proper to G.o.d to cause grace, according to Ps.

83:12: ”The Lord will give grace and glory.” Since, therefore, the sacraments consist in certain words and created things, it seems that they cannot cause grace.

_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Tract. lx.x.x in Joan.) that the baptismal water ”touches the body and cleanses the heart.” But the heart is not cleansed save through grace. Therefore it causes grace: and for like reason so do the other sacraments of the Church.

_I answer that,_ We must needs say that in some way the sacraments of the New Law cause grace. For it is evident that through the sacraments of the New Law man is incorporated with Christ: thus the Apostle says of Baptism (Gal. 3:27): ”As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ.” And man is made a member of Christ through grace alone.

Some, however, say that they are the cause of grace not by their own operation, but in so far as G.o.d causes grace in the soul when the sacraments are employed. And they give as an example a man who on presenting a leaden coin, receives, by the king's command, a hundred pounds: not as though the leaden coin, by any operation of its own, caused him to be given that sum of money; this being the effect of the mere will of the king. Hence Bernard says in a sermon on the Lord's Supper: ”Just as a canon is invested by means of a book, an abbot by means of a crozier, a bishop by means of a ring, so by the various sacraments various kinds of grace are conferred.” But if we examine the question properly, we shall see that according to the above mode the sacraments are mere signs. For the leaden coin is nothing but a sign of the king's command that this man should receive money. In like manner the book is a sign of the conferring of a canonry. Hence, according to this opinion the sacraments of the New Law would be mere signs of grace; whereas we have it on the authority of many saints that the sacraments of the New Law not only signify, but also cause grace.

We must therefore say otherwise, that an efficient cause is twofold, princ.i.p.al and instrumental. The princ.i.p.al cause works by the power of its form, to which form the effect is likened; just as fire by its own heat makes something hot. In this way none but G.o.d can cause grace: since grace is nothing else than a partic.i.p.ated likeness of the Divine Nature, according to 2 Pet. 1:4: ”He hath given us most great and precious promises; that we may be [Vulg.: 'you may be made'] partakers of the Divine Nature.” But the instrumental cause works not by the power of its form, but only by the motion whereby it is moved by the princ.i.p.al agent: so that the effect is not likened to the instrument but to the princ.i.p.al agent: for instance, the couch is not like the axe, but like the art which is in the craftsman's mind.