Chapter 45: Argument from the Nature of Sacraments
Moreover, there was an argument taken from the promise of Christ, where he said: "I will be with you until the end of the world." This is no hindrance to our opinion, for we confess that Christ is present with us by his divine nature, by grace, and by many gifts which his spirit brings unto us.
Furthermore, if we desire his blood and flesh, we may also comprehend them in this sacrament by faith and may spiritually eat them, leading to a true, yet secret and unspeakable conjunction of us with Christ when we are changed into him.
Chapter 45:
Argument from the Nature of Sacraments Then afterward, it was proposed that if the matter is as we say, it will follow that our sacraments have no more than had the sacraments of the old Law, seeing that in them also Christ was signified. Indeed, perhaps, if we consider the nature of signs, the thing was more fully shadowed there than it is in our sacraments, which are altogether unbloody. In the sacrifices of the old fathers, the slaughter was plainly seen, and the blood shed there did more clearly depict the Lord's death and place it before our eyes than our bread and wine do.
We answer that regarding the substance, our sacraments are the same as those of the old fathers. The same thing is given in both, although the signs are different. This is testified by Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians.
Nevertheless, our sacraments have many prerogatives over the sacraments of the old law. They are firm and no longer to be changed until the end of the world; they show not the thing that is to be done, but the thing that is already done. They are clearer and pertain to a more extensive and greater number of people. Because they are clearer, they stir up greater faith, and thereby a greater measure of the spirit follows.