Part 20
"What then shall I do?" he says. "I will pray with my voice, and I will pray with my understanding. I will sing with my voice, and I will sing with my understanding."
—1 Corinthians 14:15
In this passage he uses the word spirit where we have rendered it voice, but with the same meaning, for he understands by it the sound formed by the breath passing through the throat and reverberating in the air.
Nevertheless, we must always remember that the tongue without the heart, whether in private or public prayer, cannot but be exceedingly displeasing to God. Moreover, the ardour and vehemence of our desire ought to be so great that it surpasses everything the tongue can express. Finally, in private prayer the tongue itself is not necessary, except insofar as the understanding is unable to stir itself sufficiently, or a vehement emotion moves the tongue and compels it to act. For although the best prayers are sometimes made without speech, it often happens that the affection of the heart is so ardent that it moves both the tongue and the other members without any desire for display.
This was why Hannah, the mother of Samuel, moved her lips while praying. Believers daily experience something similar within themselves when, without having intended it, they utter cries and sighs in their prayers. As for the outward postures and bodily practices commonly observed—such as kneeling and uncovering the head—they are exercises by which we endeavour to prepare ourselves for greater reverence toward God.
We must now learn not only the manner of praying, but also the very pattern and form which our heavenly Father has given us through his dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In this we may perceive his exceedingly great goodness and gentleness. For besides admonishing and exhorting us to turn to him in all our necessities, as
children have recourse to their father whenever need presses them, he knows that we cannot adequately understand how great our poverty and misery are, nor discern what it is good, useful, and beneficial to ask of him. He has therefore chosen to assist our ignorance and supply from himself what our understanding lacks.
He has given us a form of prayer in which, as in a picture, he has plainly set before us everything that it is lawful to wish and desire from him, everything that can benefit and profit us, and everything that we need and must ask of him. From this kindness and gentleness we may derive singular consolation, for we see and are assured that we make no request that is unlawful, troublesome, or strange before him, and ask nothing displeasing to him when, following his rule, we pray as though through his own mouth.
Plato, perceiving the ignorance of men in the desires and requests they present to God—which often could not be granted without causing them great harm—declares that the best manner of prayer is that taught by an ancient poet: to ask God to grant us what is good, whether we ask for it or not, and to avert evil from us even when we desire that it should befall us. In this he judges as rightly as a pagan man can, for he recognizes how dangerous it is to ask God for whatever our desires suggest. He likewise sufficiently reveals our wretchedness: we cannot safely open our mouths to ask anything of God unless the Holy Spirit guides us into the right manner of praying well.
This prayer, or rule of prayer, contains six petitions. For I have good reason not to agree with those who divide it into seven parts, since the evangelist, in saying, "Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver
us from the evil one," joins these two clauses together to form a single petition. It is as though he said: "Do not permit us to be overcome by temptation, but rather assist our frailty and deliver us, lest we succumb." Indeed, the ancient teachers agree with this interpretation. From this it is easy to judge that what is added in Saint Matthew, and what some have regarded as a seventh petition, is merely an explanation of the sixth and must be referred to it.
Although this prayer is such that in every part of it we must principally regard God's honour, and although it is beneficial to us that everything contained in it should come to pass as we request, nevertheless the first three petitions are specially devoted to seeking God's glory. This alone we must consider in them, without any regard for ourselves. The other three contain especially those things which we must ask for our necessities.
Thus, when we pray that God's name be hallowed, we must not do so out of any regard for our own benefit, but solely from consideration for God's glory, without any other affection, end, or intention. Nevertheless, this very thing results in our great benefit and advantage. For when God's name is hallowed as we pray, it likewise becomes our sanctification. Yet, as has been said, we must not seek that benefit in making the request. Even if all benefit to us were excluded and nothing whatsoever were to come to us from it, we should nevertheless continue to desire and request in prayer the hallowing of God's name and all other things pertaining to his glory.
This is evident in the examples of Moses and Saint Paul, who, turning their affections away from themselves, desired their own destruction with vehement and burning zeal so that, even at their
own loss if necessary, God's glory might be exalted and his kingdom increased. On the other hand, when we ask that our daily bread be given to us, although we ask for something that concerns us and our benefit, we must nevertheless seek God's glory first even in this. Indeed, if it were not to serve his glory, we should neither request it nor desire or wish to possess it.
Let us now begin to explain the prayer.
Our Father Who Art in Heaven
Here, at the very beginning of this prayer, appears what we have already said: all our prayers must be presented and addressed to God in the name of Jesus Christ, since none can be acceptable to him in any other name.
For in calling God our Father, we address him in the name of Jesus Christ. We could not call God our Father, and it would be arrogance and presumption to claim the title of his children, unless we had been made children by his grace in Jesus Christ. Christ, being his true, natural, and proper Son, has been given to us as our brother, so that what belongs to him by nature might become ours by gift and adoption, if with certain faith we receive this great blessing. As Saint John says:
"To all who believe in his only Son, God the Father has given this great excellence and privilege of being made children of God."
—John 1:12
He therefore calls himself our Father and wills that we should address him as such, delivering us from every distrust by the great tenderness contained in this name. For no affection of love can be found equal to a father's love. Thus he could give us no surer testimony of his infinite love toward us than by willing that we should be called his children.
Moreover, his love toward us is greater than that of all earthly fathers toward their children, insofar as he surpasses all men in perfect goodness and mercy. Thus, even if it were possible for every father on earth to lose all fatherly love and affection and to forsake and abandon his children, he could never fail us, since he cannot deny himself. For we have the promise he gave us through his Son, our Redeemer:
"If you, being evil, are accustomed to do good to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father, who is altogether good?"
—Matthew 7:11
Again, through the prophet:
"Can a mother forget her children? Even if she should forget them, I will never forget you."
—Isaiah 49:15
And if we are his children, then just as a child cannot seek the protection of a stranger without implying either the harshness and inhumanity or the poverty and weakness of his own father, so we cannot seek help elsewhere than from our heavenly Father without dishonouring him as either poor and powerless or harsh and cruel.
Nor should we plead that our sins ought to make us afraid to approach him because, although he is a good and gracious Father, we have nevertheless provoked him against us by our offences. For if among men a son can have no better advocate with the father whom
he has offended than himself, when in humility and obedience he acknowledges his wrongdoing and comes to ask his father for mercy —because a father's heart cannot deny itself but must be moved and softened by such entreaties—what will this Father of mercies and God of all consolation do? Will he not hear the tears and groans of his children when they pray for themselves, especially since he invites and exhorts them to do so, rather than all the requests that others could make on their behalf? Would he prefer that they seek refuge in others because they distrust and doubt his goodness and mercy?
He makes us understand this great fatherly mercy through the parable in which a father is represented to us who does not wait for his son to ask forgiveness in words, though that son had estranged himself from him, recklessly squandered his possessions, and grievously offended him. Rather, he anticipates him: recognizing him from afar as he sees him returning, he runs to meet him, embraces him, comforts him, and receives him again into favour.
By setting before us in a man an example of such great mercy and tenderness, God intended to teach us how much more grace, gentleness, and kindness we ought to expect and hope for from him. For he is not only a father, but the best and most compassionate of all fathers, if we come and cast ourselves upon his mercy, even though we have been ungrateful, rebellious, and wicked children.
And to give us greater certainty that, if we are Christians, he is such a Father to us, he has willed not only to be called Father by us, but expressly that we should call him our Father. It is as though we were saying to him: "Father, who are so tender toward your children and
so ready to pardon them, we, your children, make our request to you, assured that you are our Father and that you bear toward us only a fatherly affection and goodwill, however unworthy we may be of such a Father, whatever wickedness we have committed, and whatever imperfection or poverty may remain in us."
We are not here instructed that each person should individually call him my Father, but rather that all of us together should call him our Father. By this we are admonished how brotherly our affection toward one another ought to be, since we are all together children of one Father. For since he is the common Father of us all, from whom comes every good we can possess, we ought to regard nothing as so separate and divided among us that we are not ready, willingly and with all generosity of heart, to share it with one another as necessity requires.
If we are ready, as we ought to be, to support and help one another, there is nothing by which we can benefit our brothers more than by commending them to this most gracious Father, for when he is favourable toward us, we lack nothing. Indeed, we also owe this to our Father. For just as one who truly and sincerely loves and desires the welfare and honour of the head of a household likewise loves and promotes the welfare of his entire household, so, if we have a right affection toward this heavenly Father, it is fitting that we display it toward his people, his household, and his inheritance, which he has so highly honoured that he calls it the fullness of his only Son.
The Christian's prayer must therefore be so ordered and framed that it is common and embraces all who are his brothers in Jesus Christ— not only those whom he presently sees and knows to be such, but all
people living upon the earth. We do not know what our Lord has determined to do with them, but we ought to desire every good for them and hope for the best concerning them. Nevertheless, above all others, we must have a particular concern and affection for those of the household of faith, whom Saint Paul especially commends to us in all things. These are those whom, so far as we can judge, we know presently to be true believers and servants of God.
In short, all our prayers must be so common that they always regard the fellowship which our Lord has established in his kingdom and household. Yet this does not prevent us from praying particularly for ourselves and for others, provided that our affection does not wander or turn aside from concern for the welfare and preservation of this fellowship, but is directed entirely toward it. For although such prayers are expressed in particular terms, they nevertheless remain common because they tend toward this end.
All this may easily be understood by a comparison. God's command to relieve the need of all the poor is universal. Nevertheless, those obey it who, with this purpose, show mercy and share their possessions with those whom they see or know to be in need, even though they do not give to all others whose need is no less—either because they cannot know them all or because they cannot provide for everyone. In the same manner, those do not act contrary to God's will who, considering and reflecting upon the common fellowship of the Church, offer particular prayers in which, with particular words but with a public spirit and common affection, they commend to God either themselves or others whose needs he has chosen to make more immediately known to them.
Yet prayer and almsgiving are not entirely alike. For we can relieve with our possessions only those whose poverty is known to us, but by prayer we can and must help even those whom we do not know and who are separated from us by whatever distance may lie between us. This is accomplished through the universality of our prayers, in which all God's children are included, and those unknown to us are among their number.
The prayer then adds, Who art in heaven. From this we must not understand or imagine that he is enclosed or contained within the compass of heaven. For Solomon confesses:
"The heavens cannot contain you."
—1 Kings 8:27
And God himself says through his prophet:
"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool."
—Isaiah 66:1
By this he declares and makes known that he is not contained within any particular place, but is everywhere and fills all things. Yet because our ignorance and weakness of understanding cannot otherwise comprehend or conceive his glory, power, sublimity, and majesty, he signifies them to us by heaven, which is the highest and most glorious and majestic thing we can behold.
Therefore, since our senses are accustomed to regard everything they apprehend as confined within bounds, God is placed above every place so that, when we seek him, we may rise above every perception
of soul and body. Moreover, by this manner of speaking he is declared exempt from all corruption and change. Finally, it signifies that by his power he contains and governs the whole world.
Thus, Who art in heaven is as though he were described as possessing infinite greatness and exaltation, incomprehensible being, inexpressible power, and eternal immortality. These words should therefore move us to raise our hearts and minds when we think of God, so that we imagine nothing carnal or earthly concerning him, do not seek to measure him by our worldly reason, and do not subject him to our affections. Rather, we must acknowledge that he is eternal and immutable, never failing, never changing his goodwill, and never forsaking his people; that he is the Governor and Master of all things, whose might, power, and majesty extend everywhere and over all; that he is the Lord of every good, distributing his gifts to us; and that he rules over every evil that opposes us, protecting us from it.
THE FIRST PETITION
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Here the name of God signifies the reputation he bears among men. Since his name ought to correspond to his works, we understand by it the renown merited by all his attributes—his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, and truth. For God is rightly great and admirable because he is just, wise, merciful, powerful, and true.
We therefore ask that God's majesty, shining in all his attributes, may be hallowed. It is not to be hallowed within God himself, who
can undergo neither increase nor diminution, but in the sense that it should be regarded as holy—that is, truly acknowledged for what it is and magnified as it deserves. We ask, first, that his name may accord with his works, so that no work for which his greatness deserves to be exalted is concealed or obscured by the ingratitude or ignorance of men. Moreover, whatever he may be seen to do, we ask that all his works may appear glorious, as they truly are, so that the prophet's saying may be fully accomplished:
"According to your name, O Lord, so your praise extends throughout all the earth."
—Psalm 48:10
Thus, if he punishes, may he be acknowledged as just; if he pardons, as merciful; if he fulfils what he has promised, as true. In short, may there be nothing in which his glory does not shine, so that his praises may be engraved upon every heart and resound from every tongue.
Finally, may all ungodliness which pollutes and dishonours this holy name—that is, which obscures or diminishes its hallowing—perish and be confounded; and in its overthrow may God's majesty be made increasingly clear. Thus thanksgiving is contained in this petition. For when we ask that God's name be hallowed, we attribute to him the praise of every good, acknowledge that all things come from him, and recognize his graces and benefits toward us, by which he deserves to be regarded as holy.
THE SECOND PETITION
Thy Kingdom Come
God's kingdom consists of two parts. First, he reigns insofar as he directs and governs his people by his Holy Spirit, so that in all their works and words they may manifest his goodness and the riches of his mercy. On the other hand, he reigns insofar as he overwhelms the reprobates who do not acknowledge him as their God and Lord and refuse to be subject to him, and beats down their pride and arrogance to demonstrate that no power can resist his own.
Since these things take place daily before our eyes—because our Lord gives strength and efficacy to his Word, raising it like a sceptre, and causes it to bear fruit and reign even beneath the cross, contempt, and disgrace of the world—we may see that this kingdom exists even in the present world. Therefore Christ himself says that the kingdom of God is within us. At times he calls the Church the kingdom of heaven, because he truly rules within it; at other times he gives this name to the preaching of the gospel, through which he establishes his dominion. Nevertheless, his kingdom is not of this world, because, first, it is spiritual and consists in spiritual things, and, moreover, it is incorruptible and eternal.
We therefore pray that God's kingdom may come—that is, that day by day our Lord would increasingly enlarge the number of his subjects and believers, by whom he may be glorified in every way; and that among those whom he has already called into his kingdom
he would continually distribute and multiply his graces more abundantly, so that he may increasingly live and reign in them until, having perfectly united them to himself, he fills them entirely.
We likewise pray that he would increasingly cause his light and truth to shine, so that the darkness and falsehoods of the devil and his servants may vanish, be driven away, confounded, and annihilated. In praying that God's kingdom may thus come, we also pray that it may finally be perfected and completed. This will occur on the day of his judgment, when all things shall be revealed. On that day he alone shall be exalted and shall be all in all, after gathering his people into glory and casting down, subjugating, and destroying the entire kingdom of the devil.
THE THIRD PETITION
Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in
Heaven
By this petition we ask that, just as nothing is done in heaven except by his ordinance, so he would subject the earth to his dominion, abolishing all obstinacy and rebellion. We ask that in this manner he would govern and dispose all things everywhere according to his will, direct the events and outcomes of everything, use all his creatures according to his pleasure, and subject all their wills to himself so that they obey his own.
Indeed, we ask that he would so impose his law and yoke upon the wicked desires of the devil and the reprobates—who strive to flee his
commandment and, as far as lies within them, reject it—that they may accomplish nothing except according to his good pleasure.
In making this prayer, we renounce all our desires and wishes, surrendering and abandoning to God every affection we possess and praying that he would not cause things to happen according to our appetite, but according to what he sees and knows to be good and as it pleases him. Indeed, we desire not only that the effects of our desires which oppose God should be nullified and destroyed, but that God would create in us a new heart and a new will, so that no desire may remain in us except one that accords with his will.
In short, we ask that we should will nothing of ourselves, but that his Spirit would will within us, causing us to love the things that please him and to hate and abhor everything that displeases him.
These are the first three petitions of this prayer, which we must offer with regard solely to God's honour, without considering ourselves or our own benefit. That benefit nevertheless follows, although it must not be the cause or end that moves us to make these requests.
And although all these things would still come to pass and be accomplished in their time even if we neither thought of, desired, nor requested them, we must nevertheless desire and ask for them. Indeed, it is greatly necessary that we do so, in order that we may profess and declare ourselves to be God's servants and children by desiring and pursuing, as far as lies within us, his honour as our Lord and Father.
Therefore, those who, lacking such an affection and desire to advance God's glory, do not pray that his name may be hallowed, that his
kingdom may come, and that his will may be done, neither are nor ought to be regarded among God's children and servants. And just as all these things shall come to pass and be accomplished despite them, so they shall result in their judgment and condemnation.
THE FOURTH PETITION
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
This is the first of the remaining three petitions, by which we ask God for those things that preserve us and supply our necessities. By it we ask God generally for everything our bodies require for their use under the elements of this world—not only that by which we are fed and clothed, but everything God knows to be good and useful for us, so that we may enjoy the blessings he gives us in peace and tranquillity.
In short, by this petition we entrust ourselves to his care and commit ourselves to his providence, that he may feed, sustain, and preserve us. For this most gracious Father does not disdain to take even our bodies under his protection and guardianship, so that he may exercise our faith in these lowly and little things as we look to him for everything we need, down to a crumb of bread and a drop of water.
Indeed, our perversity is such that we are always far more concerned about our bodies than about our souls. Therefore, many who dare to entrust their souls to God nevertheless remain anxious about their bodies. They continually doubt what they will live upon and with what they will be clothed; and unless they always have at hand an abundance of grain, wine, and other provisions, they tremble for fear
of want. This is what we have said: that this shadow of our corruptible life is esteemed by us far more highly than eternal immortality.
On the other hand, those who, through sure confidence in God, have laid aside all anxiety concerning their bodies likewise securely expect greater things from him, even salvation and eternal life. It is therefore no slight or insignificant exercise of our faith to hope from God for those things which are accustomed to cause us so much anxiety and torment. We have made considerable progress when we are delivered from this unbelief, which is rooted, as it were, in the very bones of every man.
The interpretation of some who refer this petition to supersubstantial bread does not appear to me very consistent with the meaning of Jesus Christ. We therefore ask our Father for our bread.
By saying daily and this day, or day by day, as the other evangelist has it, we are taught that we must not possess an immoderate desire for worldly goods and transitory things, which we afterward abuse by spending them upon pleasure, ostentation, or some other superfluous use. Rather, we must ask only for as much as is sufficient for our necessity and daily life, having certain confidence in our Father that, having fed us today, he will not fail us tomorrow.
However great an abundance of goods or provision and prosperity we possess, even if all our granaries and cellars are full, we must nevertheless always ask for our daily bread. We must remember that all material provision is nothing unless our Lord makes it fruitful and effective by pouring his blessing upon it. Even what is already in our
hands is not ours except insofar as it pleases God, hour by hour, to grant and give us its use.
Because human arrogance is not easily persuaded of this, the Lord testifies that he gave an enduring and remarkable example of it when he fed his people with manna in the wilderness, to remind us:
"Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word that proceeds from his mouth."
—Deuteronomy 8:3
By this sentence he signifies that it is his power alone that sustains both our lives and our strength, although he dispenses it to us through material elements. He likewise demonstrates this by the contrary when he breaks the sustaining power of bread, so that those who eat languish with hunger, and removes the substance from water, so that those who drink waste away with thirst.
Those who are not content with their daily bread but whose hearts are set upon covetousness and greed, desiring without limit, as well as those who rest in their abundance and trust in their riches, merely mock God when they use this petition and make this request of him. The first ask him for what they would not wish to receive and what they abhor—namely, only their daily bread. As much as they can, they conceal and disguise from him their covetous and greedy affection, whereas true prayer must disclose and lay open the whole heart before him.
The second group asks him for what they neither expect nor hope to receive from him, since they imagine that they already possess it in
their own homes.
The word our more fully reveals and makes known the grace and kindness of God, which makes ours what was in no way owed to us. Yet I do not strongly disagree with those who think this word signifies bread gained by our honest labour, without injury or fraud toward another, because whatever is acquired unjustly is never truly ours.
The words Give us signify that, from whatever source or by whatever means we obtain it, it is always the pure and free gift of God, even though it comes to us through the labour of our hands, through our skill and industry, or in any other manner whatsoever.
THE FIFTH PETITION
Forgive Us Our Debts, as We Also Forgive
Our Debtors
Here we ask that our sins be forgiven—a forgiveness necessary for every person without exception. We call sins debts because through them we owe punishment to God's justice as payment, and we could never satisfy that debt unless we were released from it by this forgiveness. This is the free pardon of his mercy, by which he generously releases and delivers us from the debt, receiving nothing from us that could release or acquit us, but satisfying himself from his own mercy in his Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, who once offered himself to the Father as our satisfaction.
Therefore, those who imagine that by their own works and merits, or those of anyone else, they can satisfy God and through such satisfactions merit, obtain, compensate for, and purchase the forgiveness of their sins have no part in this free pardon. When they invoke God in this form, they merely accuse themselves and bear testimony against themselves. For they confess that they are indebted to God unless forgiveness is granted to them, yet they do not accept that forgiveness but reject it. By presenting and opposing their merits and satisfactions to God, they do not seek his grace and mercy but appeal to his justice.
We ask that this forgiveness be granted to us as we forgive our debtors—that is, as we pardon those who have wronged or injured us and offended us in word or deed. This does not mean that we forgive the guilt of sin, which belongs to God alone. Rather, the pardon and forgiveness we must exercise consists in willingly removing from our hearts all anger, hatred, and desire for vengeance, forgetting every injury and offence committed against us, and harbouring no ill will toward anyone.
Therefore, we must not ask God to forgive our sins unless we, for our part, likewise forgive in the manner described all who have offended us or continue to offend us. If we retain any hatred in our hearts, harbour any desire for vengeance, or consider how we may harm our enemies, wrongdoers, or those who bear us ill will—and especially if we do not strive with all our power to restore goodwill with them, be reconciled to them, live in peace, love, and charity with them, and render them every service and kindness—then in this prayer we ask God not to forgive our sins.
For we ask him to forgive us as we forgive others. If we do not forgive them, this is to ask him not to forgive us. What, then, do such people obtain by their request except a more grievous condemnation?
Finally, we must note that this condition—that he forgive us as we forgive our debtors—is not added because, by forgiving others, we merit forgiveness from our Lord. Rather, by these words he intended only to support the weakness of our faith. He added them as a sign by which we might be assured that he has forgiven our sins as certainly as we know that we have forgiven others, when our hearts are entirely emptied and cleansed of all hatred, envy, ill will, and vengeance.
Moreover, by this he intended to show that he excludes from the number of his children those who, being inclined to vengeance and reluctant to forgive, remain obstinate in their hostilities and, while retaining resentment and indignation against their neighbour, ask God to lay aside and forget his indignation against them. Such people must not be so bold as to invoke him as their Father.
THE SIXTH PETITION
Lead Us Not into Temptation, but Deliver
Us from the Evil One
There are many different kinds of temptations. Every wicked thought of our understanding that induces us to transgress the law—whether our own desire raises it within us or the devil stirs it up—is a temptation. And things that are not evil in themselves are nevertheless made temptations to us through the devil's cunning when they are set before our eyes so that, through their attraction, we may be drawn away and turn aside from God.
Of these latter temptations, some are on the right hand and others on the left. Those on the right include riches, power, honour, and similar things, which often dazzle men's sight by their appearance of goodness and splendour and intoxicate them with their sweetness, causing them to forget God. Those on the left include poverty, disgrace, contempt, afflictions, and similar things, by whose harshness and difficulty men become disheartened, lose all courage, abandon all confidence and hope, and finally become entirely alienated from God.
By this sixth petition, therefore, we ask God our Father not to permit us to succumb to the temptations that wage war against us, whether those produced within us by our own desires or those set before us by the devil. Rather, we ask him to sustain and strengthen us by his hand, so that by his power we may remain firm and stand against
every assault of the evil enemy, whatever thoughts he introduces into our minds. We also ask that we may turn to good everything set before us on either side—that we may not be lifted up by any prosperity, nor disheartened or driven to despair by any adversity.
We do not ask here that we should experience no temptations at all. Rather, we greatly need to be awakened, pricked, and spurred by them, lest we become excessively idle and drowsy. It was not without reason that David desired to be tested by our Lord. Nor does our Lord test his people daily without cause, chastening them for their instruction through disgrace, poverty, tribulation, and other forms of the cross.
But God tempts in one manner and the devil in another. The devil tempts in order to destroy, condemn, confound, and overwhelm. God, on the contrary, tests his servants to prove their sincerity by putting them to trial, to increase their spiritual strength, and to mortify, purge, and burn away their flesh by exercising them. For unless the flesh were restrained in this manner, it would rage and rebel beyond measure.
Moreover, the devil attacks treacherously and unexpectedly, seeking to overpower us before we are aware of him. But God does not permit us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. Rather, with the temptation he provides a favourable outcome, so that we may endure and bear everything he sends us.
It makes little difference whether by the evil one we understand the devil or sin. For Satan is the adversary who plots our ruin, while sin is the weaponry he employs to oppress and destroy us. Our request, therefore, is that we should neither be conquered nor overwhelmed
by any temptations, but that by our Lord's power we may stand strong and firm against every opposing power. This is what it means not to succumb to temptation: that, received into his safekeeping and secured by his protection and defence, we may triumph over sin, death, the gates of hell, and the whole kingdom of the devil. This is to be delivered from the evil one.
More is contained in this petition than appears at first sight. For if the Spirit of God is our strength for waging war against Satan, we shall never obtain victory unless we are first delivered from the weakness of our flesh and filled with the Spirit's power. Therefore, in asking to be delivered from Satan and sin, we request that God's fresh graces may continually increase within us until, having attained perfection, we may triumph over every evil.
We must also note carefully that it is not within our power to enter into combat against the devil, so mighty and formidable a warrior, to withstand his assaults, or to resist his violence. Otherwise, we would ask God vainly or mockingly for something we already possessed in ourselves. Certainly, those who prepare to fight him in confidence in themselves do not rightly understand what an enemy they face, how strong and cunning he is in warfare, or how thoroughly armed he is at every point.
We therefore ask to be delivered from his power as from the jaws of a furious and ravenous lion, ready to be immediately torn apart by his claws and teeth and swallowed up if our Lord withdraws from us even slightly. Yet we are certain that if the Lord is present to aid us and fights on our behalf, then without strength of our own, by his power we shall do valiantly. Let others trust as much as they please
in their free will and in the power they imagine themselves to possess. For us, it is enough that by God's power alone we stand and accomplish whatever we are able to do.
These last three petitions, by which we commend ourselves and everything concerning us to God, plainly demonstrate what we said before: that the prayers of Christians ought to be common, directed toward the general edification and benefit of the Church and the public advancement of the fellowship of believers. For in these petitions no one asks for something to be given privately to himself. Rather, all of us together ask for our bread, that our sins may be forgiven, that we may not be led into temptation, but that we may be delivered from the evil one.
After all the petitions, the reason is added from which proceeds such great boldness in asking and confidence in obtaining. Although this clause is not expressed in the Latin copies, it is so fitting in this place that it ought not to be omitted:
"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen."
Here lies the firm and tranquil repose of our faith. For if our prayers had to be commended to God on account of our worthiness, who would dare even to open his mouth before him? But now, although we are exceedingly wretched and unworthy and possess absolutely nothing by which to commend ourselves before God, we shall nevertheless always have reason to pray and shall never lose our confidence, since the kingdom, power, and glory cannot be taken from our Father.
Finally, the prayer concludes with Amen. This expresses the ardour of our desire to obtain all the petitions we have made to God. It also confirms our hope that everything for which we have prayed is granted to us and shall certainly be accomplished, for it has been promised by God, who cannot lie in his promises.
We see that everything we ought—and indeed everything we are able —to ask of God is described and contained in this prayer, rule, and form of praying given to us by our good Master, Jesus Christ. The Father appointed him to be our Teacher and wills that he alone should be heard and obeyed. For as God he has always been the Father's eternal wisdom, and as man he was his great Ambassador and Messenger given to men.
This prayer is so perfect that anything added to it which cannot be referred to what it contains is contrary to God and will never be granted by him. For here he has declared everything pleasing to him, everything necessary for us, and everything he wills to give us.
Therefore, all who desire to go further and presume to ask God for anything not contained or implied in this prayer seek, first, to add something of their own to the wisdom of God, which is a great blasphemy. Second, they are not content with God's will and refuse to remain subject to it. Third, they will not be heard, because they do not pray in faith.
It is perfectly certain that they cannot pray in faith in this manner, for they have no Word of God to support them, and unless faith rests upon that Word, it cannot exist at all. Not only do they possess no Word of God, but, as far as lies within them, they act contrary to it. Tertullian therefore spoke truly and most aptly when he called this
the lawful prayer, tacitly signifying that all others are irregular and unlawful.
Yet we do not mean this to be understood as though we were so strictly bound to this prayer and form of praying that it would be unlawful to alter a single syllable or to employ other words in prayer. For throughout Scripture we find many prayers whose words differ greatly from this one, yet all were written by the same Spirit, and their use is exceedingly beneficial to us. Many prayers are also continually suggested to believers by the same Spirit which do not correspond to this prayer in their precise wording.
We mean only to teach that no one should seek, expect, or request anything whatsoever beyond what is summarily contained in this prayer. Although his request may differ greatly in wording, its meaning must not vary in the least. It is certain that all the other prayers in Scripture, as well as those used by believers, may be referred to this one.
Indeed, no other prayer can be found that may be not merely preferred to this one, but even compared with it in perfection. For nothing has been omitted of all that may be conceived for the praise of God or of all that man ought to desire for his benefit and welfare. Everything is so rightly and perfectly comprehended in it that all men are deprived of any hope of devising a better form of prayer. In short, let us remember that this is the teaching of the wisdom of God, which taught what it willed and willed what was necessary.
Although, as has already been said, we must always sigh and pray without ceasing, keeping our hearts raised to God, nevertheless, because our frailty requires much assistance and our sluggishness
greatly needs to be awakened, it is good for each person, as a further exercise in prayer, to appoint certain hours for himself which are never allowed to pass without prayer and during which the whole affection of his heart is entirely devoted to it.
Such times include when we rise in the morning, before beginning our work and the duties of the day; when the hour comes to receive our meal and refreshment from God's blessings, and after we have received it; and when all the day's work is finished and the time has come to rest.
Yet this must not become a superstitious observance of hours, as though, having discharged our duty toward God at those times, we imagined that we had fully satisfied him for the remainder of the day. Rather, it must serve as discipline and instruction for our weakness, by which it is exercised and frequently stirred.
Above all, we must take great care that whenever we are afflicted by any perplexity or misfortune, or see that others are so afflicted, we immediately run to God in our hearts and call upon his aid. Likewise, we must allow no prosperity that comes to us, or that we know has come to others, to pass without declaring by praise and thanksgiving that we acknowledge his power and goodness.
Finally, in every prayer we must carefully observe that we do not attempt to subject or bind God to any particular circumstances, nor prescribe, appoint, or limit for him the time, place, manner, or means by which he must accomplish what we request. As we are taught in this prayer, we must impose no law or condition upon him, but leave and submit everything to his good pleasure, so that
whatever he does may be done in whatever manner, at whatever time, and in whatever place seems good to him.
Moreover, before making any request concerning ourselves and our necessities, we first ask that his will be done. By this we already subject our will to his, so that, restrained and held in check as by a bridle, it may not presume to bring him into subjection to itself, but may acknowledge him as the Master and Director of all its affections.
If, with our hearts thus formed in obedience, we permit ourselves to be governed by the laws of his divine providence, we shall easily learn to persevere in prayer and wait patiently upon the Lord, deferring our desires until the hour appointed by his will. We shall be assured by him that, although he does not appear to us, he is nevertheless always present, and that in his own time he will demonstrate that his ears were by no means deaf to our prayers, though they seemed to men to have been rejected and despised by him.
This will provide us with ready consolation, lest we become desolate and despair if God sometimes fails to satisfy our first desires. Such is the custom of those who, carried away by vehement ardour, invoke God in such a manner that if he does not visit them at the first appeal and immediately give them aid, they at once imagine that he is angry and indignant with them. Having lost all hope of being heard, they then cease to invoke him.
Rather, by moderating our hope and deferring its fulfilment, let us continue in that perseverance which is so highly commended to us throughout Scripture.
Moreover, this will be a good remedy to keep us from tempting God and provoking and irritating him against us through our impatience and importunity, as do those who will come to terms with him only by bargaining through particular agreements and conditions. As though he were their servant and subject to their desires, they attempt to place him under the laws of their demands. If he does not immediately obey them, they become angry, complain, speak evil, murmur, and rage. To such people he often grants in his fury and indignation what in his mercy and favour he denies and refuses to others.
We have an example of this in the children of Israel, for whom it would have been far better not to have been heard by God than to receive the meat and birds he gave them in his wrath.
And even if, after long waiting, our understanding cannot finally perceive that we have profited through our prayers and we feel no benefit from them, our faith will nevertheless assure us of what our senses could not perceive: that we have obtained from God everything that was good for us. For our Lord so often promises to concern himself with the troubles that burden us after we have once laid them before him.
Thus he will cause us to possess every abundance in poverty and every consolation in affliction. For even if everything else should fail us, the Lord God will never forsake us, since he cannot disappoint the expectation and patience of his people. He alone will be sufficient for us in place of all things, because he contains within himself every good. These blessings he will afterward reveal to us on the day of his judgment, when he will fully manifest his kingdom.
It is so necessary for believers to sustain themselves by this patience that they could not endure unless they rested upon it. For the Lord does not test his people lightly. Not only does he exercise them with considerable severity, but he often reduces them to the most extreme necessities and leaves them there for a long time before allowing them to taste and experience his sweetness. As Hannah says:
"Before he gives life, he puts to death; before he brings joy, he casts down to the grave."
—1 Samuel 2:6
When they are thus afflicted, desolate, and already half dead, what could they do but lose all courage and fall into despair unless this thought raised them up: that God watches over them and that everything they presently suffer and endure will finally have a favourable outcome?
Yet although they rest upon this assurance, they do not cease to pray, because unless our prayers possess the constancy to persevere, they profit us nothing.
CHAPTER TEN
Of the Sacraments
We must now speak of the sacraments. It is greatly necessary that we should receive some definite teaching concerning them, so that we may learn for what purpose they were instituted and how they ought to be used.
First, we must understand what a sacrament is: an outward sign by which our Lord represents and testifies to us his goodwill toward us, in order to support and strengthen the weakness of our faith. It may also be defined as a testimony of God's grace declared by an outward sign.
From this we see that a sacrament never exists unless God's Word precedes it. Rather, it is added to the Word as an appendage appointed to seal and confirm it and to give us greater assurance of it, as our Lord sees to be necessary because of the dullness of our understanding and the weakness of our flesh. This is not because the Word is insufficiently firm in itself or can receive any better confirmation in its own nature. For it is nothing other than God's truth, so sure and certain in itself that it can receive no better confirmation from elsewhere than from itself. Rather, the sacrament is given to confirm us in the Word.
Our faith is so small and feeble that unless it is supported on every side and sustained by every means, it is immediately shaken in every direction, agitated, and made to waver. And because we are so ignorant and so devoted and attached to earthly and carnal things that we neither consider nor can comprehend or conceive anything spiritual, the merciful Lord accommodates himself to the dullness of our understanding. Through these material elements he leads us to himself and causes us to contemplate even in the flesh what belongs
to the Spirit. This is not because the things presented to us as sacraments naturally possess such quality and power, but because they have been sealed and marked by God to bear this signification.
We must not listen to those who argue with the following cavil: Either we know that the Word of God preceding the sacrament is God's true will, or we do not. If we know it, we learn nothing new from the sacrament that follows. If we do not know it, the sacrament cannot teach it to us, since all its power and efficacy lie in the Word.
Let them be answered briefly that seals affixed to public letters and legal instruments are nothing when considered by themselves. If nothing were written on the parchment, they would serve no purpose and would be attached to it in vain. Nevertheless, when added to the letters, they confirm, certify, and render more authentic the writing contained in them.
Nor can they say that we recently invented this comparison to suit ourselves. Saint Paul employed it when he called the sacrament of circumcision by the Greek word sphragida, that is, a seal. In that passage he demonstrates that circumcision was not Abraham's righteousness, but a seal of the covenant through faith in which he had already been justified.
And why, I ask, should it offend us if we teach that the promise is sealed by the sacraments, since it is evident that one promise is confirmed by another? For the clearer promise is better suited to assuring faith. The sacraments bring us exceedingly clear promises and possess this special advantage beyond the spoken Word: they represent those promises vividly to us, as in a picture.
Nor should we be troubled by the distinction alleged between sacraments and the seals affixed to official documents: that since both consist of material elements belonging to this world, sacraments cannot serve to seal God's spiritual promises as seals authenticate the writings of princes concerning transitory and perishable things. For when a believer beholds the sacrament, he does not stop at its outward appearance, but by holy contemplation rises to behold the exalted mysteries hidden within it, according to the correspondence between the material figure and the spiritual reality.
And since our Lord calls his promises covenants and agreements, and the sacraments marks and tokens of those covenants, we may draw a comparison from human covenants and agreements. To confirm their agreements, the ancients were accustomed to slaughter a sow. What would a slaughtered sow have accomplished if the words of the agreement had not accompanied it and, indeed, preceded it? Sows are often slaughtered without signifying any mystery.
Likewise, what does clasping hands signify by itself, since people often seize the hands of their enemies in order to harm them? Yet when words of friendship and agreement have first been spoken, those words are confirmed by such a sign, even though the agreement had already been proposed, made, and settled.
The sacraments, therefore, are exercises given to make us more certain of God's Word and promises. Because we are carnal, they are likewise given to us in material things, so that they may instruct us according to the capacity of our dullness and guide and lead us as tutors guide young children. For this reason Saint Augustine calls a
sacrament a visible word, because it displays God's promises to us as in a picture and represents them vividly before us.
We may also employ other comparisons to describe the sacraments fully, as when we call them pillars of our faith. For just as a building rests and stands upon its foundation, yet is rendered more secure and stable when supporting pillars are added beneath it, so our faith rests and stands upon God's Word as upon its foundation. But when the sacraments are added, they serve as pillars upon which faith rests more securely and by which it is more firmly strengthened.
We may also call them mirrors in which we behold the riches of God's grace that he bestows upon us. For through these sacraments, as has already been said, he manifests himself to us according to what our dull understanding is capable of knowing and testifies to us his goodwill toward us.
Nor do those argue well who contend that the sacraments are not testimonies of God's grace because they are often received by the wicked, who nevertheless do not thereby perceive God to be any more favourable toward them, but instead incur still greater condemnation. By the same reasoning, the gospel would not be a testimony of God's grace, since it is heard by many who despise it. Nor, finally, would Jesus Christ himself be such a testimony, since he was seen and known by many, very few of whom received him.
The same may be seen in the official letters of princes. Although a large portion of the people know that the authentic seal affixed to them comes from the prince, they nevertheless despise it. Some set it aside as something that does not concern them, while others even
hold it in abhorrence. Thus, considering this correspondence, we cannot but approve the comparison made above.
It is therefore most certain that our Lord, both in his holy Word and in his sacraments, presents his mercy and gracious goodwill to all. Yet it is accepted only by those who receive both the Word and the sacraments with sure faith. In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ was offered and presented by the Father to all for salvation, but he was not acknowledged and received by all. Saint Augustine, wishing somewhere to express this, said that the efficacy of the Word in the sacrament lies not in its being pronounced, but in its being believed and received.
We therefore conclude that the sacraments are rightly called testimonies of God's grace and, as it were, seals of the favour he bears toward us. By sealing that favour within us, they console our faith, nourish it, strengthen it, and increase it. The arguments some have attempted to raise against this are exceedingly frivolous and feeble.
Some say that if our faith is good, it cannot be made better. For, they argue, it is not faith unless it rests and relies upon God's mercy so firmly that it cannot be moved or drawn away from it. It would have been far better for them to pray with the apostles:
"Lord, increase our faith,"
—Luke 17:5
than to boast of such perfection of faith, which no man has ever possessed or ever will possess in this life.
Let them answer what kind of faith they think was possessed by the man who said:
"Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."
—Mark 9:24
For that faith, though only begun, was good, yet it could still be made better by the diminishing of unbelief. But they can be refuted by no surer argument than their own consciences. For if they confess themselves to be sinners—which, whether they wish it or not, they cannot deny—they must necessarily attribute the fault to the imperfection of their faith.
But they say that Philip answered the eunuch that, if he believed with all his heart, he was permitted to be baptized. What place, then, can there be here for the confirmation given by baptism when faith already occupies and fills the whole heart?
In reply, I ask them in turn: Do they not perceive that a considerable part of their own hearts is destitute and empty of faith? Do they not recognize within themselves some new increase of faith each day? A pagan boasted that he grew old while still learning.
We Christians, then, are exceedingly wretched if we grow old without making any progress. Our faith ought to pass through successive stages by which it continually advances until it grows into perfect manhood. Therefore, in this passage, to believe with all one's heart does not mean to be perfectly established in Jesus Christ, but simply to embrace him willingly and with sincere zeal—not to be satisfied
with what one has received of him, but to hunger and thirst for him with ardent affection and long after him.
This is Scripture's customary manner of speaking: it says that something is done with the whole heart when it means that it is done willingly and without hypocrisy. Such are these passages:
"With my whole heart I have sought you."
—Psalm 119:10
Again:
"I will praise you with my whole heart."
—Psalm 138:1
On the contrary, when reproving hypocrites and deceivers, Scripture customarily charges them with possessing "a heart and a heart"—that is, a double heart.
They further add that if faith were increased by the sacraments, the Holy Spirit would have been given in vain, since it is his work and power to begin, strengthen, and perfect faith. I confess to them that faith is the proper and entire work of the Holy Spirit. Being enlightened by him, we acknowledge God and the great treasures of his goodness. Without his light, our minds are so blind that they can see nothing, and so devoid of all perception that they cannot discern anything of spiritual realities.
But where they consider only one grace of God, we acknowledge three. First, our Lord teaches and instructs us by his Word. Second,
he confirms us by his sacraments. Third, by the light of his Holy Spirit he enlightens our understanding and gives entrance into our hearts to both the Word and the sacraments. Otherwise, they would merely strike the ears and present themselves to the eyes, but would neither penetrate nor move the inward man.
I therefore wish readers to understand that when I attribute to the sacraments the office of strengthening and increasing faith, I do not imagine that they possess an inherent power always to accomplish this, but that God instituted them for this purpose. They produce their effect when the inward Master of souls adds his power to them, by which alone hearts are pierced and affections moved to grant entrance to the sacraments.
If he is absent, the sacraments can convey no more to the mind than sunlight can convey to blind eyes or a sounding voice to deaf ears. I therefore make this distinction between the Spirit and the sacraments: I acknowledge that the power resides in the Spirit, leaving nothing further to the sacraments than that they are instruments which the Lord employs toward us. Without the Spirit's operation, these instruments would be useless and empty; nevertheless, they are full of efficacy when the Spirit works inwardly through them.
It is now evident how, in my judgment, faith is strengthened by the sacraments: just as the eyes see by the light of the sun and the ears hear through the sound of a voice. Certainly, light would accomplish nothing for the eyes unless they possessed the faculty of sight to receive it, nor would sound accomplish anything for the ears unless they had naturally been given the power of hearing.
Now, if it is true—as must be settled among us—that the Holy Spirit's operation in engendering, sustaining, preserving, and establishing faith corresponds to the sight of the eye and the hearing of the ear, then both conclusions follow perfectly well: the sacraments profit nothing without his power, and yet nothing prevents faith from being strengthened and increased by the sacraments in hearts already instructed by him.
By this reasoning the objections customarily raised by some are also answered. They argue that if we attribute the increase or confirmation of faith to created things, we thereby wrong the Spirit of God, who alone must be acknowledged as its author. But in doing so we do not rob him of the praise that belongs to him, since his strengthening and increasing of faith consists in preparing our minds by his illumination to receive the light set before us in the sacraments.
If this is still stated too obscurely, it may be clarified by the following comparison. If someone wishes to persuade another person to do something, he will consider every argument by which that person may be drawn to agree and, as it were, compelled to comply. Yet nothing has been accomplished if the person being addressed does not possess a lively and keen judgment capable of comprehending the weight of the arguments presented to him; if he is not likewise teachable by nature and inclined to obey sound instruction; and finally, if he has not formed such an opinion of the faithfulness and prudence of his counsellor that it already disposes his judgment to receive what is proposed.
For there are many stubborn minds that could never be persuaded by any argument. When a counsellor's integrity is suspected or his authority despised, nothing is accomplished, even among those who are otherwise easily led. On the contrary, when all these things are joined together, the counsel given will be willingly received, though it would otherwise have been despised.
God's operation within us is similar. So that the Word may not strike our ears in vain or the sacraments be presented to our eyes without benefit, he declares that it is God who speaks there, softens the hardness of our hearts, and prepares us for the obedience due to his Word. Finally, he conveys both the Word and the sacraments to the inward ears of the spirit.
There is therefore no doubt that both the Word and the sacraments strengthen our faith by setting plainly before our eyes the goodwill of our heavenly Father toward us. In the knowledge of that goodwill consists the stability of our faith, and upon it all its strength rests. The Spirit likewise strengthens faith by impressing this confirmation upon our hearts and making it effectual there.
The Lord Jesus demonstrates that this property belongs to the outward Word when he calls it seed. For just as seed, if it falls upon some barren and uncultivated place, perishes without producing anything, but if cast into a well-cultivated field yields abundant fruit, so the Word of God, if it falls upon a hard and rebellious mind, remains barren, like seed cast upon the gravel of the sea. But if it finds a soul properly prepared by the operation of the Holy Spirit, it becomes fruitful and produces an abundant harvest.
Now, if there is so close a correspondence between the seed and the Word—just as we say that grain grows, springs forth, and reaches maturity from the seed—why should we not likewise say that faith takes its beginning, growth, and perfection from the Word?
The sacraments are so truly confirmations of our faith that sometimes, when God wills to remove confidence in the things promised through them, he even removes the sacraments themselves. When he strips Adam of the gift of immortality and casts him out, he says:
"Let Adam not gather the fruit of life, lest he live forever."
—Genesis 3:22
What is this that we hear? Could that fruit have restored to Adam the incorruption from which he had already fallen? Certainly not.
Rather, it is as though he had said: "Let the sign of my promise, which might give him some hope of immortality, be taken from him, so that he may no longer entertain a vain confidence."
For the same reason, when the apostle exhorts the Ephesians to remember that they had been strangers to the promises, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, without God and without Christ, he says that they had not participated in circumcision. By this he signifies that they were excluded from the promise, since they had not received its token.
They raise another objection: that God's glory is transferred to created things when so much power is attributed to them, and is
thereby diminished. This is easily answered. We do not place any power in created things, but merely say that God employs such means and instruments as he himself sees to be appropriate, so that all things may serve his glory, since he is the Lord and Master of all.
Thus he nourishes our bodies with bread and other foods, enlightens the world by the sun, and warms it by fire. Yet neither bread, the sun, nor fire accomplishes anything except insofar as under these means he bestows his blessings upon us. In the same way, he spiritually feeds and nourishes faith through the sacraments, whose only office is to represent God's promises before our eyes.
We must place no confidence in the other creatures which God in his goodwill has appointed for our use and through whose service he bestows the gifts of his goodness upon us. Nor must we admire or glorify them as the causes of our good. Likewise, our confidence must not rest in the sacraments, nor must God's glory be transferred to them. Rather, turning away from all created things and leaving them behind, both our faith and our confession must rise and direct themselves toward him who is the author both of the sacraments and of every other good.
Finally, when they seek support for their error from the very word sacrament, they proceed far too cunningly. They say that although the word has many meanings among approved authors, only one of them is appropriate or applicable to signs: namely, the solemn oath a soldier makes to his prince or captain when he is enrolled and received into the ranks. For just as by this oath new soldiers pledge their fidelity to their prince or captain, promise themselves to him, and declare that they belong to his army, so by our signs we confess
Jesus Christ to be our Captain and testify that we wage war beneath his banner.
They add comparisons to render their meaning clearer and more evident. Thus, in war the French and English distinguish one another because the French bear a white cross and the English a red one. Likewise, the Romans were distinguished from the Greeks by differences in clothing. Moreover, the ranks of Rome were distinguished from one another by their proper insignia: senators from knights by purple garments and rounded shoes, and knights from the common people by a ring. In the same way, we possess our signs by which we are distinguished and separated from unbelievers and those outside our religion.
But I can confidently affirm as true that the ancients who gave the name sacrament to our signs did not consider the sense in which Latin writers had used that word. Rather, for convenience they assigned it this new meaning, by which they simply designated sacred signs.
If we wish to examine the matter more subtly, it is reasonable to think that they transferred the word to this meaning by the same reasoning and analogy through which they gave the word faith the meaning in which we now use it. For although faith properly signifies the faithfulness by which a promise is kept, they employed it to signify the certainty or assured persuasion one possesses concerning that faithfulness.
In the same way, although a sacrament is the oath by which a soldier promises and binds himself to his captain, the ancients employed the word to signify the token by which the captain receives his soldiers
into his ranks and service. For through his sacraments the Lord promises us that he will be our God and that we shall be his people.
But we leave aside such subtleties, since by many exceedingly clear arguments we can demonstrate and prove that the ancients, in calling our signs sacraments, intended nothing other than to signify that they are signs of holy and spiritual realities. Indeed, in the Latin translation of Scripture, this word is often used for mystery.
We readily accept the comparisons they propose, but we do not permit them to place first what is least important in the sacraments, much less to recognize nothing else in them. The principal consideration concerning the sacraments must be that they are given to minister to our faith toward God.
The second consideration is that the sacraments serve to testify to our confession before men. According to this latter purpose, the comparisons just mentioned are good and entirely appropriate.
On the other hand, we must be warned that just as these people destroy the efficacy of the sacraments and abolish their use, so there are others who attribute to the sacraments certain mysterious powers which we nowhere read were ever given to them by God. Through this error the simple and ignorant are deceived and misled, being taught to seek God's gifts and graces where they cannot possibly be found. Little by little, they are turned and drawn away from him to pursue mere vanities.
For the schools of the sophists have unanimously determined that the sacraments of the new law—that is, those now used by the Christian Church—justify and confer grace, provided that we place