C JaUo

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
DWIGHT HALL FUND

A TREATISE ON THE SACRAMENTS OF
THE CHURCH.

: Quanquam non soleo apud me epistolas meas
servare, nee possum, quia, ut primo scribuntur,
a me dantur, nullo earum exemplo retento ;
tamen, si quse sunt quae aliquid in se
doctrine habent, eas omnino perdi nolim."
Joannes Coletus Abbati WmcmNcrjMBENsi.

lOANNIS COLET OPUS DE SACRAMENTIS
EC CLE SIM,.

A
TREATISE ON THE SACRAMENTS
OF THE CHURCH,

BY JOHN COLET, D. D.
FORMERLY SEAN OF ST. PAUL'S.

NOW EIEST PUBLISHED, WITH AN INTEODUCTION,
BY J. H. LITPTON, M.A.
sur-master of st. paul's school, and late fellow of
st. John's college, Cambridge.

LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY,
YORK STREET, OOVENT GARDEN.
1567.

PREFACE.
'HORTLY before I sought permission to
publish the following Treatise, a permis
sion which was most obligingly granted
by the Court of the Worshipful Com
pany of Mercers, I had found my task
considerably lightened. It had been my intention to
enter at some length into the circumstances of Dean
Colet's life, so far as they served to throw light on
the state of religion and learning at that period. For
this purpose I had been gradually making collections
for a considerable space of time. But, in March last,
it was my fortune to discover that all, and much
more than all, which I had contemplated, was already
most efficiently performed. I allude to a work re
cently published, by Frederick Seebohm, Esq., en
titled The Oxford Reformers of 1498. Some of the
proof-sheets of this were shown to me by the cour
tesy of the author; and I could not but rejoice to
find that the sketch I had been meditatmg was
rendered unnecessary by such a finished portrait.
I mention this to account for, and in some measure
excuse, what may appear disconnected in the follow
ing Introduction. My original plan being altered, I

vi PEEFACE.
endeavoured to confine myself to such topics as bore
directly upon Dean Colet's Treatise; whilst yet being
unwilhng to exclude some few particulars which
might interest those concerned in St. Paul's School.
On one point I was several times in doubt ; namely,
whether or not it would be better to accompany the
Latin Treatise with a translation. But, whilst doing
so would have increased the size of the book, I judged
that those into whose hands alone it was likely to
come would readily dispense with such an addition.
The peculiarities of spelling, usual at the period,
such as justicie for justitias, and the like, I have not
thought it worth while to reproduce. Some obvious
slips of the transcriber I have silently corrected;
more important ones are noted at the foot of the
page. The blanks in words and sentences which
occur here and there in the manuscript, evidently
those left by one who could not decipher the writing
before him, I have filled up on conjecture; marking
all such insertions by [ ]. The quotations from
Scripture I have throughout verified, and placed the
references in the margin. Besides the more obvious
extracts from Dionysius, I have added one or two
passages from the Fathers, which are cited, or seem
alluded to ; and now and then a brief note in illustra
tion of the text. The Introduction and Synopsis will,
I trust, render anything more than this unnecessary.
St. Paul's School,
May, 1867.

INTRODUCTION.

)HE Treatise which is here presented to
the reader occupies the last sixty pages
of a manuscript volume, in quarto,
which has been in the library of St.
Paul's School since the year 1759. The inscription
on the fly-leaf shows that it was the gift of Robert
Emmott; but its previous history I have not been
able to trace. From a passage in Pepys's Diary1 it
would appear that there were some of Colet's treatises
in the possession of the High Master of that time,
Mr. Samuel Crumleholme; but in a little work,
written shortly afterwards, the titles of these are
given,2 and prove them not to have been included in

1 Under Feb. 7th, 1660. " Went to Paul's School; where he
that made the speech for the Seventh Form, in praise of the Founder,
did shew a book which Mr. Crumlum had lately got, which he believed
to be of the Founder's own writing."
2 " His Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanes, and an Epistle
of his to a Cardinal, both writ with his own hand, are in the Library
of St. Paul's School in London." — A Sermon of Conforming and
Reforming, Src, edited by Tho. Smith (1661), p. 75. In the Great
Fire of 1666, as Strype tells us (Stow, i. 168), Cromleholme " lost an

2 INTEODUCTION.
the contents of the present volume. The previous
part of the volume consists of two treatises, one on
the Celestial Hierarchy, and the other on the Eccle
siastical Hierarchy of Dionysius, the so-called Areo-
pagite. These two are digests, or summaries, of the
corresponding works of Dionysius, made, as the
opening sentences 1 of the first inform us, for the use
of a friend. All three are in the same neat and
beautiful hand. That this is not Dean Colet's own
is clear from several considerations. The manuscript
has all the appearance of a fair copy ; here and there
are blanks in the middle of a sentence, which betoken
an amanuensis, unable to decipher a word or phrase;
and, what is most conclusive of all, a portion of it is
evidently a transcript of a copy corrected by the
author. This appears from a comparison of the
manuscript2 in the Cambridge University Library,
which contains several compositions of Dean Colet's,
and among them one on the Celestial Hierarchy. In
the margin of this are marked numerous corrections
and additions, in a less formal hand, very probably
the author's ; and those corrections are embodied in

incomparable library ; for he was very curious in books." Such as
were rescued from the fire probably got scattered about ; and possibly
the two Treatises described by Smith are the very ones now in the
University Library at Cambridge.
1 " Cognosco tuam sublimem et angelicam mentem, vir optime et
amice charissime, dignam sane quas non solum de angelis audiat, sed
prseterea quas cum ipsis una consocietur. Quapropter, quas heri et
nudiustertius apud Dionysium Areopagitam in eo suo libro qui inscri-
bitur Be Ccelesti Hierarchia (in quo magnifice et divinitus de angelis
disserit) legi et memoria reportavi, ea volo tecum communicare."
2 Which, by the courteous permission of the authorities, I was
allowed to inspect. It is marked Gg. iv. 26.

INTEODUCTION. ^ 3
the school manuscript.1 I am inclined to think that
the handwriting of the latter is that of Peter Meghen,
a native of Brabant, and Colet's amanuensis.2 It
resembles, most nearly of all which I have seen, that
of a little volume in the British Museum,3 which
purports to contain the original Statutes of St. Paul's
School, and the history of which is so curious as to
deserve a passing notice. It is entitled: — Statuta
Paulince Scholce. — Hunc Libellum ego Joannes Colet
tradidi in manibus Magistri Lilii xviii0 die Junii
a0- X'~ m.ccccc xviii. ut eum in scola servet et observet.
And inside the cover is written the following memo
randum, signed " William Hamper, Deritend House,
Birmingham, Feb. 5th, 1820." " This valuable do
cument was given to me by Mr. Rodd, Bookseller,
Great Newport Street, Long Acre, in whose shop I
accidentally discovered it, lying, as waste paper, be
tween the last leaf and cover of a fragment of an old

1 Thus, for example, in the sentence at the bottom of the first page,
" in qua unitate lucis omnino et idemtitate est varietas rerum ; in variis
rebus eadem lux," the latter part is altered to " luxque eadem manet
una et simplex in variis rebus ; " and so it appears in the School copy.
2 A noble manuscript of his, executed at Dean Colet's charge, is
also in the University Library, marked Dd. vii. 3. It is a transcript
of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, in Latin, arranged in
parallel columns ; but being in a print hand, does not afford the means
of comparison with the School manuscript. The same remark holds
good, I am informed, with respect to the manuscripts done by Meghen,
which are in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Knight, in the Introduction to his Life of Colet (1823), p. xvi,
speaks of a " manuscript in the Chapter-house at St. Paul's, writ by
Dean Colet's own hand." Through the kindness of the Rev. W. S,
Simpson, M.A., Librarian of St. Paul's, I am enabled to state that no
such manuscript is to be found there.
8 " Additional and Egerton, S. 6274." It is a thin quarto of
twelve leaves, neatly repaired and bound.

4 INTEODUCTION.
law manuscript on vellum, which, with others of a
like description, was on the point of being sent to a
neighbouring gold-beater's, to be used for the pur
poses of his trade.— July 7th, 1818." l The sub
scription at the end of this document — Joannes Colett,
fundator nove scole manu mea propria — seems to indi
cate that it is in Colet's own handwriting ; and there
is undoubtedly a resemblance between it and that of
the school manuscript : but I think the reasons given
above, on the other side, to be much more weighty.
To pass from the question of the handwriting to
that of the time when the Treatise on the Sacraments
was composed, there is reason for thinking that it was
not long after 1498. Besides the slight presumption
which its being found in the same copy affords, that
it was a work of the same period as the summaries
of Dionysius before-mentioned, there is the more
important fact, that it is deeply penetrated with the
influence of that writer. Now, Erasmus, writing
about the year 1530,2 states that Grocyn, " thirty
years before," had begun to lecture in St. Paul's on

1 A copy of it, in facsimile, is in vol. xv. of Kennett's MSS. (Lans-
downe Library, No. 949), with this note : — " Ex autographo tran-
scripsit Joannes Copping, Maii, &c. 1715." Is it possible that tho
original lay misplaced in some law-stationer's office, till found, more
than a century later, by Mr. Hamper ?
2 The passage occurs in the Declarationes Des. Erasmi Roterodami
ad censuras Lutetios vulgatas sub nomine Facultatis Theologies Paris-
iensis, printed by Froben in 1532, p. 264. The charge in question
was, that Erasmus, in the Epistola ad D. Erardum de Marca, pre
fixed 'to his paraphrase of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, had used
the following language : — " Nam Dionysius, qui in Hierarchia Secunda
priscos Ecclesia? ritus satis copiose describit, eruditis recentior quispiam
fuisse videtur, quam fuerit Areopagites ille Pauli discipulus." (Froben,
1534, tomus secundus, p. 146). Erasmus replies by noticing men's

INTEODUCTION.

the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, but had not been many
weeks engaged in his task before he came to the
conclusion that the writings which passed for the
Areopagite's could not be his. It is not likely that
after Grocyn, an intimate friend of Colet's, had made,
and publicly owned, this discovery, Colet would have
continued to speak of Dionysius with such unqualified
respect.1 Moreover, an event occurred in the year
1498 which was likely to direct Colet's thoughts
afresh to Dionysius ; whose writings, in some form or
other, he had before met with during his travels on
the Continent. This was the publication of the Paris
edition of some of the works of the Areopagite, in
the form of a Latin translation by Ambrosius, the
earliest edition, I believe, which had appeared. The
attention thus excited is shown, to some extent, by
the publication, in 1502, of the Argentine edition,
containing, in a Latin dress, the works which had
appeared four years before, with some additional ones.
There is therefore no improbability in supposing,
that it was the appearance of one of these two edi-

proneness to such pious frauds as he held the production of the Areo
pagite's works to be ; and, to show that other learned men were of his
opinion, cites the case of Grocyn.
1 Jewell, indeed, distinctly states that Colet held the same view as
Grocyn : — " Dionysius, although he be an ancient writer, as it may
many waies well appeare, yet it is judged by Erasmus, John Colet,
and others many, grave and learned men, that it cannot be Areopagita,
S. Paul's disciple, that is mentioned in the Acts." — Of Private Masse
(ed. 1611), p. 8.
But Harding, in his Rejoinder to M. Jewel's Replie (1566), fol. 44,
sayS : — « As for John Colet, he hath never a word to shew, for he
wrote no workes. If he said it at his table, or in a sermon, as M.
Jewel perhappes hath heard saye, the proufe is of small auctoritie.
We admit not' the trial of hearesaies."

6 INTEODUCTION.
tions, most likely of the former, which turned Colet's
attention afresh to the Hierarchies, and prompted him
to draw up the abridgments of them before referred
to. Indeed, if we can depend upon the date given
by Erasmus for Grocyn's Lectures on Dionysius, it is
not unreasonable to conjecture that he was the friend
for whose benefit Colet took this trouble. After
reading Colet's abstracts, supposing him not as yet to
have thoroughly studied the author for himself,
Grocyn would be likely enough " stomachari in eos,
qui negarent esse ilium Areopagitam. " And the
present Treatise on the Sacraments would seem,
from its .style, to have had its origin in the same train
of thought.
When we think of the eminently practical cast of
Dean Colet's mind, it is almost surprising that the
high-flown fancies and turgid style of Dionysius
should have made any deep impression on him. We
call to mind his strong common sense, as it is so
admirably portrayed for us in Erasmus's account of
their journey to the shrine of St. Thomas of Canter
bury;1 and we feel that in the twelve years or so

1 In the colloquy headed Peregrinatio religionis ergo, of which a
new translation, with many interesting notes, by John Gough Nichols,
Esq., appeared in 1849. The story has since been told by Dean
Stanley, in his Historical Memorials of Canterbury (1865), pp. 240
sqq. Mr. Nichols has satisfactorily proved that the Gratianus Pullus
of the Dialogue was no other than Colet. Fuller, in his Abel Redivi-
vus (1651), p. 99, mentions the circumstance which is shown to have
suggested the name of Pullus, and adds a reason for it of his own : —
" Black he loved above all colours, preferring it farre before Purple ;
which preserved his Doctorall robes the longer."
If any one still doubts of the completeness of Mr. Nichols' proof
that Gratianus Pullus was John Colet, and no imaginary Oration

INTEODUCTION.

which elapsed between the probable date of this
Treatise and the pilgrimage to Canterbury, great
changes must have taken place in his mind. But it
should be remembered how wide a sway those
singular writings once exercised. " Dionysius is
the mystical hero of mysticism. You find traces
of him everywhere. Go almost where you will,
through the writings of the mediteval mystics, into
their depths of nihilism, up their heights of rapture
or of speculation, through their overgrowth of fancy,
you find his authority cited, his words employed, his
opinions more or less fully transmitted."1
The very fact that their authority was disputed,
at the first public citation of them of which we find
mention, tended to direct men's thoughts to them the
more. When the Severians, at the Council of Con-

Pullen, I think that I can add" another argument. Gratianus is
clearly a Latin translation of the name John. In the interpretation of
Hebrew names given us by St. Jerome (a favourite author with both
Erasmus and Colet), among those taken from the Acts is the follow
ing: — "Joannes, in quo est gratia, vel Domini gratia." Bishop
Jewell seems to have had the same thought, in a passage that reminds
us, in more than one respect, of Colet. Speaking of the lessons which
our Christian names should teach, he says: — " As, if any be called
John, that he pray for grace, and desire to be filled with grace : that
he give witnesse of Christ, that he is the Lambe of God which taketh
away the sins of the world : that he rebuke vice boldly, as John did in
Herod, though he were a mighty prince." — Treatise of ilie Sacraments
(1611), p. 268.
1 Hours with the Mystics, by Robert Alfred Vaughan, B.A. (1856),
vol. i. p. 128. This highly-gifted author was well able to form an
opinion on the matter : but I think he is somewhat too severe on the
merits of Dionysius as a writer: — " His verbose and turgid style, too,
is destitute of all genuine feeling. He piles epithet on epithet, throws
superlative on superlative, hyperbole on hyperbole, and it is but log
upon log; he puts no fire under, neither does any come from else
where."— Ib. p. 127.

8 INTEODUCTION.
stantinople, in 533, endeavoured to support their
opinions by a reference to the Areopagite, the validity
of their standard was called in question, on the
ground that neither Cyril nor Athanasius had indi
cated any knowledge of it in their own controversies
against Nestorius and Arius.1 In course of time,
this Dionysius became identified with the patron
saint of France,2 and the influence of his works was
thus still more widely spread. They were translated
and commented on by John Scotus in the ninth cen
tury, and appealed to by Boniface VIII. in the
thirteenth.3 Should any one now attempt seriously
to maintain the genuineness of these writings, as
being, what they were long believed to be, the com
position of the Dionysius converted by St. Paul at
Athens, Casaubon's expression4 would hardly be
too strong to apply to him. But at the time when
Colet read them, it was but small disparagement to

1 Neander's General History of the Christian Religion (1851),
vol. v. p. 235.
2 As such, his portrait stands first in the Pourtraits et vies des
Hommes illustres of Andre" Thevet (1584), who thus disposes of the
question of genuineness : — " Je ne daignerois respondre a ceux qui
trop severes Aristarques revoquent en doubte si cestuy Denis Areopa
gite, disciple de Sainct Paul, et Apostre des Gauls, est autheur des
livres qui sont divulguez en son nom, les attribuant a autres qui ont
vescu en autre temps." — fol. 2. a.
See also Struve's Introductio in notitiam rei literarics (1754), p.
607; and Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History (1790), vol. ii. p. 331,
where is the story of his works reaching France in 824.
3 Neander, vol. ix. pp. 11-12.
4 Written in his copy of Dionysius : — " Auctor est sane lectu dig-
nissimus, et qui Pontificiorum causam aperte in multis jugulat. Hunc
autem fuisse Apostolorum tequalem stupor est credere ; furor est velle
aliis persuadere. Asinos esse oportet, qui hoc sibi sinent persuaderi."
Cave's Historia Literaria (1688), p. 177.

INTEODUCTION. 9
his intellect that he should believe them to be the
genuine work of the disciple of St. Paul.
Erasmus, in a letter1 written in the year that Colet
died, speaks of them as the production of a later
author. Since then it has been the fashion to depre
ciate them.2 Be their value, however, what it may,

1 Epistolas (1642), p. 1825, G., being the letter to Cardinal de
Marca, from which an extract has been given,
2 So Neander, iii. p. 497 : — " A theurgical system, or mixed sym
bolism of this sort, formed out of a mixture of Christianity and Pla-
tonism, we find completely elaborated in the writings forged under the
name of Dionysius the Areopagite, which might have been composed
some time in the course of the fifth century." Fabrieius, in his
Prolegomena to Marinus's Proclus (1703), p. xii, speaks of " that
lunatic Dionysius" — " larvatum ilium Dionysium Areopagitam " — and
by Brucker he is described as " Pseudo-philosophus ille et impostor."
Miscellanea histories Philosophies (1748), p. 142. n.
In the clouds of controversial dust which have been raised about
the age and authorship of the Dionysiac writings, it is not easy to
take a correct view of the value, of the writings themselves. Many
will be disposed to respond to the conclusion of Struve (Introductio,
Sfc, p. 856) respecting the works of the Mystics generally : — " Omnes
judicant, paucissimi intelligunt. Legi, pervolvi horum scripta, nee
condemno, nee adprobo : non intelligo." In Usher's Dissertatio, sub
joined to his Historia Dogmatiea (1690), pp. 281-289, the reader
will find a full discussion of the arguments against the Apostolic date
claimed for Dionysius. Usher concludes by assigning him to the fifth
century. Pearson, in his Vindicics Epistolarum S. Ignatii (1852),
vol. i. pp. 249-264, places him still earlier, and makes him contempo
rary with Eusebius. Peter Halloix, in his Qucestiones de Vita et
operibus S. Dionysii, appended to the Venice edition of 1756, argues
very acutely against some of the reasons commonly brought forwards
for the lateness .of the authorship ; especially that grounded on the
alleged quotation from Ignatius. The opinion of Grocyn he makes
very light of: — " Quam putida ratio ! et quam arundineo innixa baculo
auctoritas. Albusne an ater fuerit iste Crocinus qui ista crocitavit, qui3
novit?" In one of the Dissertations appended to the Disquisitio
Chronologica of Baraterius (1740), pp. 285 sqq., a sensible view, as I
think, is taken. And though the reader may not join in his conclu
sion that the author of the Hierarchies was really Dionysius, Bishop

10 INTEODUCTION.
their influence on Colet's mind, at one period of his
life at least, was such, that it seems proper to give a
short account of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, as being
the treatise which Colet epitomized most fully, and
which has given a strong tinge to his own work
on the Sacraments.
Of the seven chapters into which the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchy is divided, the first treats of the resemblance
between the Celestial Hierarchy and the Ecclesias
tical. The object of each is to raise the beings, of
and for whom it consists, through successive stages,
from a lower order to a higher, and so, in the end, to
God. For this purpose, the orders of heavenly beings
receive an illumination directly, as their spiritual
natures allow them to do, from the Source of all
Light; but for mankind, there is need of sensible
images, or sacraments.
The second treats of Baptism, the formal com
mencement of the spiritual life ; of the ceremonies
attending it — the stripping off the old garments, the
anointing with oil, the arraying in a white robe, and
the participation in the Holy Communion.

of Alexandria, he will see good reason for not regarding the work as
that of an impostor.
It may be added that Pilkington, in his Confutation of an Addition
(Parker Society, 1842), p. 586, contrasts the simplicity of rites, as
described in Dionysius, with the Popish additions of later times. And
Stillingfleet, no mean authority, whilst denying any right to the title of
Areopagite, appears to have had no thought of the writings being
" forged." " If you had asked," he writes in his controversy with
Cressy, " whether he had been an ancient and learned author, living
sometime within the first four hundred years, you should not have met
with any opposition from me." — Rational Account (1665), p. 648.

INTEODUCTION. 11
The third is on the Eucharist, called Synaxis, and
Communion, as uniting us to God ; with a descrip
tion of the manner of solemnising it.
The fourth contains an account of the consecration
of the Holy Oil, and the mystical significance of its
use in Baptism, at the altar, and the like.
The fifth describes the priestly Orders, and their
office ; the Christian Hierarchy being something mid
way between the Mosaic and the Heavenly. As the
channels through which the Christian Church receives
illumination are more corporeal than spiritual natures
require, so are they less carnal and material than those
suited to the infant condition of the Legal Church.
The sixth assigns the Orders which are the proper
subjects of the threefold work of purifying, illu
mining, and perfecting. The Monastic state is the
highest example of the last, or perfect condition.
Then follow the forms of Monastic consecration.
The seventh and last treats of the burial of the
dead, whether ecclesiastics or lay people ; the mean
ing of anointing after death ; and the nature and
limitations of prayers for the dead.
We may thus see that the pervading idea in this
Treatise of Dionysius is that of a gradual ascent to
God, through various stages of spiritual life, brought
about through the agency of corresponding orders in
a divinely appointed ministry. To quote again the
words of Vaughan,1 " The chain of being in the
upper and invisible world, through which the Divine
power diffuses itself in successive gradations, he calls
the Celestial Hierarchy. The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy
1 Ut supra, p. 123.

(

12 INTEODUCTION.
is a corresponding series in the visible world. The
orders of angelic natures and of priestly functionaries
correspond to each other. The highest rank of the
former receive illumination immediately from God.
The lowest of the heavenly imparts divine light to
the highest of the earthly hierarchy. Each order
strives perpetually to approximate to that immedi
ately above itself, from which it receives the trans
mitted influence, so that all, as Dante describes it,
draw and are drawn, and tend in common towards
the centre, God.'"
The idea is, in itself, a sublime one, when divested
of unnecessary mysticism ; and the reader will not
fail to perceive how largely it enters into the follow
ing treatise of Dean Colet's.
With respect to the number of the Sacraments, we
do not find in Dionysius any formal enumeration of
them, much less the exact seven which were after
wards recognized by theWestern Church. And this the
early date assigned to him would naturally lead us to
expect. Of the seven chapters composing the Eccle
siastical Hierarchy, setting apart the first as introduc
tory, we find that the remaining six treat, in brief, of
Baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Consecration of the
Holy Oil, Priestly Orders, Monastic Dedication, and
the Ceremonies of the Holy Dead. And these are
the very six rites to which, as we are informed,1 the
term mysterium became gradually restricted in the
Eastern Church. But, in fact, till long after the
time of Dionysius, both the sacramentum of the

1 Hard wick, History of the Christian ChurcJi: Middle Age,
(1853), p. 321, n.

INTEODUCTION. 13
Western and the mysterium of the Eastern Church,
were terms employed with great latitude of mean
ing. It was not till the twelfth century that " the
ordinances which could claim to be admitted to the
rank of sacraments were found to coincide exactly
with the sacred number seven. The earliest trace of
this scholastic limitation has been pointed out in a
discourse of Otho, the Apostle of the Pomeranians
(1124); and from the age of Peter Lombard, Bona-
ventura, and Aquinas, members of the Western
Church were taught to pay a large, if not an equal,
share of reverence unto all the Sacraments of the new
law : — Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Peni
tence, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony."1
In the Necessary Doctrine, put forth in 1543,2 the list
of seven Sacraments is retained. The First Book of
Homilies (1547) speaks of the " Sacrament of Matri
mony." Cranmer's Catechism gives three Sacra
ments as instituted by Christ, namely, Baptism,
Absolution, and the Lord's Supper. In the Second
Book of Homilies (1563) there is a clear decision
given on the matter : — " In general acceptation, the
name of a Sacrament may be attributed to any thing,
whereby an holy thing is signified. In which under
standing of the word the ancient writers have given
this name, not only to the other five, commonly of
late years taken and used for supplying the number
of the seven Sacraments, but also to divers and
sundry other ceremonies, as to oil, washing of feet,

1 Hardwick, Ib.
2 Quoted in Browne's Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles (1 858),
p. 580 ; whence also I have taken the references to Cranmer and the
Homilies.

14 INTEODUCTION.
and such like : not meaning thereby to repute them
as Sacraments in the same signification that the two
forenamed Sacraments are. Dionysius, Bernard, de
Ccend Domini, etAblut. pedum" And Bishop Jewell,1
writing some two years later, allows a like freedom
in the use of the word : — " Now for the number of
Sacraments, how many there be, it may seeme some
what hard to say, and that it cannot be spoken with
out offence. For men's judgements heerein have
swarved very much : some have said there are two ;
others three ; others foure ; and others, that there are
seven Sacraments. This difference of opinions
standeth rather in termes, than in the matter. For
a Sacrament, in the maner of speaking which the
Church useth, and in the writings of the Holy Scrip
ture, and of ancient fathers, sometimes signifieth pro
perly every such Sacrament which Christ hath
ordained in the New Testament, for which he hath
chosen some certaine element, and spoken special
words to make it a Sacrament, and hath annexed
thereto the promise of grace : sometimes it is used in
a general kind of taking ; and so every mistery set
downe to teach the people, and many things that in
deed and by special property be no Sacraments, may
neverthelesse passe under the generall name of a
Sacrament." With such divergence between the conclusions of
the Eastern and Western Churches as to the Sacra
ments, and such a latitude in the use of the term
itself, as the above passages show, we shall not be
surprised to find little that is dogmatic in Colet's
1 Treatise of the Sacraments (1611), p. 263.

INTEODUCTION. 15
treatise. He adopts, indeed, the prevalent enumera
tion of seven Sacraments, but he arranges them in an
order of his own. In the Distinctions of Peter Lom
bard,1 they are treated of in the following order : —
Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penitence, Ex
treme Unction, Orders, Matrimony. And this
arrangement was finally confirmed by the Council of
Trent.2 But Colet, under the influence of the spiri
tualizing mysticism of Dionysius, places Orders and
Matrimony together first, as distinctive of the "Vir,"
the masculine or sacerdotal element in the Church ;
the remaining five, of which Penitence occupies" the
first place, being assigned to the " Uxor," the femi
nine or lay element. So far from being at all in the
manner of Peter Lombard, his treatise may almost
be described as a commentary on the text, "Sacra-
mentum hoc magnum est j ego autem dico in Christo

1 This famous writer died July 20th, 1164. Cave specifies six
editions of his Sentences between 1474 and 1499 inclusive. His work
appears to have been welcomed as a convenient handbook, and the com
mentators upon it were very numerous. Erasmus, in his note on St.
Matt. i. 19 (quoted by Fabrieius), says: — "Haud aspernandus Theo-
logus Petrus Longobardus, rhapsodus ejus operis quod vocant Sen-.
tentiarum, quern arbitror quidem et probum fuisse virum, et, ut ilia
ferebat setas, eruditum. Atque utinam illius labor tarn feliciter cessis-
set Orbi Christiano quam ab illo susceptum est pio studio. Siquidem
apparet ilium hoc egisse, ut semel collectis quse ad rem pertinebant,
quaestiones omnes excluderet. Sed ea res in diversum exiit. Videmus
enim ex eo opere nunquam finiendarum qua^stionum non examina sed
maria prorupisse."
2 Sessio septima' (die tertio Martii, 1547) : Canon i. : — " Si quis
dixerit, Sacramenta novae legis non fuisse omnia a Jesu Christo Domino
nostro instituta, aut esse plura, vel pauciora, quam septem; videlicet:
Baptismum, Confirmationem, Eucharistiam, Pcenitentiam, Extremam
Unctionem, Ordinem, et Matrimonium; aut etiam aliquod horum
septem non esse vere et proprie Sacramentum, anathema sit."

16 INTEODUCTION.
et in Ecclesia." Whilst the five last mentioned Sa
craments are handled very briefly, the two preceding
— Orders and Matrimony — are treated of at great
length. On Matrimony especially; that spiritual
union, namely, "betwixt Christ and his Church,"1
of which he does not scruple to call the union of man
and wife a " vain and empty shadow," he expatiates
at length. This, in fact, he makes to include all:
" to the fruitful union of mankind, as wife, with God,
as husband, all the Sacraments in the Church tend."
And he does not hesitate to explain the silence of
Dionysius about marriage, on the ground, either of
his perceiving it to be identical with priesthood, or of
his meaning us to gather that, in the Church of
Christ there ought not to be any other marriage than
the mystical one involved in the priesthood.
If any additional argument were required to prove
that this treatise was written at a comparatively
early period of Colet's life, it would be furnished by
his maintaining such doctrines as these. They ap
pear to betoken a study of books, rather than of the
world. When, in 1511, he preached his Convocation
Sermon,2 he spoke boldly of the evil of " carnal con-

1 The words of the introduction in our service — " signifying unto us
the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Church" — would have
well satisfied Dean Colet; but, so far as this treatise expressed his real
thoughts, he would not have called matrimony an " holy estate," and
" honourable among all men."
2 Given at length in vol. ii. of The Phcsnix ; or, a Revival of
scarce and valuable Pieces (1708). — In his Preface, p. iv, the editor
of the Phoenix speaks of it as " perhaps one of the oldest, as well as
one of the honestest, extant in the English tongue." " This piece,"
he adds, " we might safely trust alone into the world without Passport
or Recommendation ; whether we consider it purely as a sermon, with

INTEODUCTION. 17
cupiscence." But he did not propose, as the remedy
for it, the stricter enforcing of celibacy among priests.
And when he was called upon to put the soundness
of his own views to a very practical test, in the choice
of governors and masters for his newly-founded
school, he showed no preference for the unmarried
state, but rather the reverse. " In charge of the
revenues," Erasmus tells us,1 " and of the whole con
cern, he set, not priests, not a bishop, not a chapter,
not dignitaries; but married citizens,2 of established

respect to the language and ornaments of speech, tho preached in the
reign of Henry VII, or with respect to the matter and doctrine, tho
in the days of Popery." Bishop Burnet " once intended to have
published it, as a piece that might serve to open the scene, and to
shew the state of things at the first beginnings of the Reformation."
(16. p. v.) It was republished by Tho. Smith in 1661 ; and again in
1701 ; the suggestive cause of this latter republication being stated to
be a recent quotation from it by Dr. Atterbury. « ¦
From his greatness as a preacher, Erasmus in one passage fanci
fully derives the name of Colet: — " Since Coheleih is the Hebrew
word for Preacher, which in Greek is Ecclesiastes." — Letter to Thomas
Lupset {Epp., 1642, iv. 4). — Smith, who mentions this remark about
Coheleih, adds : — " If I might guess again, I should say, that he was
so called because of those rare endowments that were in him. For the
Colet is that part of the ring wherein the pretious stone or signet is set
.... It pleased Aim. God to break his mother's wedding-ring, in
taking away all her 22 children, except only one; but he preserved
the colet of it, in preserving our Dr. alive as long as she lived." — A
Sermon, Sec, p. 59.
Guesses apart, I suppose it will be allowed that the name Colet is
only a diminutive of Nicholas. The popularity of that saint made his
namesakes multiply fast. " The southern nations almost always con
tract their names by the omission of the first syllable, as the northern
ones do by leaving out the latter ones ; and thus, while the English
have Nick, the Italians speak of Cola, &c." See History of Christian
Surnames (1863), vol. i. p. 214.
1 Letter to Justus Jonas {Epp. 1642, p. 705).
2 " Cives aliquot conjugatos," ib. I am aware that this has been
explained by some to mean " formed into a Company," as the Mercers
C

18 INTEODUCTION.
reputation." And for the master of the school, there
was to be chosen " a wedded man,1 a single man, or
a priest that hath no benefice with cure ;" a direction
which shows at least no preference of unmarried men
for this office. We may conclude, therefore, that the
exaltation of celibacy, which we find in this treatise,
betokens an early and transition state of Colet's mind,
and one which was afterwards greatly modified by
what he saw of the evils of enforced celibacy among
the clergy.2 Of those evils we have a sufficient
account from contemporary writers.3

are. So Holland appears to have understood it {Heroologia Anglica,
1620, vol. ii. p. 155) : " Docuit ipse conjugatus, se nusquam reperisse
minus corruptos mores quam inter conjugates." And yet the passage
in Erasmus's letter, a little further on, which Holland is evidently
quoting, shows beyond doubt what meaning the word was there
intended to have. For the writer adds, as the reason for good prin
ciples bein^ found among the " conjugati," that natural affection, the
care of children, and domestic concerns, were so many barriers to keep
them from falling into vice.
Among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum is a thin folio
(marked 6037), containing Short Lives of various Divines. In his
account of Colet, the writer says that " he always preferred the honest
and honourable estate of matrimony before the unchast single life of
priests ; " and again, of the " Head Master and Usher," " hee willed
that they should be chosen out of the number of married men, than of
priests with their suspected chastity." — But the account seems only to
be a somewhat careless abstract of Erasmus or Holland.
1 The copy of the Statutes in Knight's Colet, p. 303, has " yf such
may be gotten a wedded man." The autograph copy before referred
to, as well as the two in Kennett's Collections, show that the words " yf
such may be gotten," refer to the master's being learned " also in
Greke," which precedes.
2 " Erasmus often referred to this wisdom and honesty of Dr. Colet
in preferring a married man for the master of his school — and again,
married men for the trustees and guardians of it ; because the coelibacie
of the clergy was at that time run into infinite crimes and scandals." 
Kennett Collections, vol. xcvi. fol. 82, a ; where a passage is given, in
testimony, from Erasmus's Dialogus de Recta Latini Grcscique ser-

INTEODUCTION. 19
It will be interesting, for the completion of our
knowledge of what Dean Golet wrote upon the Sacra
ments, to compare the summary of religion which he
drew up for the use of the " lytel babys and lytel
children " of his school. It is prefixed to the Latin
Accidence ' which he composed for the same purpose.

monis pronuntiatione. I quote from Maire's edition of it (1643),
p. 27. " Proinde Joannes Coletus, vir seterna dignus memoria, quum
templo Divi Pauli scholam puerilem addidisset, nulla cura magis
torquebatur, quam in quos ejus rei prsefecturam delegaret. Episcopi
judicant hanc rem indignam sua solicitudine. Scholasteres censibus
recipiendis se potius quam schohe curandse datos arbitrantur; et
pulchre sibi videntur suo functi officio, si ludimagistros non deciment.
In collegiis canonicorum fere deterior pars superat. Magistrates vel
judicio carent, vel indulgent privatis affectibus. leo. Quid tandem
consili reperit ? tjrsus. Hominem conjugatum, et liberis divitem,
scholse prsefecit. Provisionem delegavit aliquot e civibus laicis, quo
rum probitatem habere sibi videbatur exploratam ; ut ab his in bseredes
proximos derivarentur. lbo. Num ea providentia securui% reddidit?
tjestjs. Minime. Sed hie aiebat sibi videri minimum esse periculi, ut
turn habebant res humanaa."
Earlier in the same Dialogue {ib. p. 13) there is a striking picture
drawn of the amount of care shown in the choice of schoolmasters ;
which places Colet's attention to this matter in yet stronger relief: —
" Ad hujus aut illius commendationem quemvis ludo prasficimus, fere
indoctum, interdum et moribus improbis; non hue spectantes, ut rei
charissimas, civium liberis, omnibus consulamus, sed ut unius famelici
ventriculo prospiciamus ; accuratius circumspicientes cui committamus
unum equum aut canem venatorem, quam cui credamus totius civitatis
pignora." — See also Ridderus De Eruditione (1680), pp. 36-40.
3 Thus Melanchthon, writing in 1529 to Henry VIII, says : — " Ne
mo non videt qualis sit vita coelibum : bonorum querela? notaa sunt,
malorum turpitudo manifesta est." — Epp. 1642, p. 28.
But the strongest testimony is that of Polydore Vergil, himself an
ecclesiastic, and acquainted with Colet: — " Illud tamen dixerim, tan-
tum abfuisse, ut ista coacta castitas illam conjugalem vicerit, ut etiam
nullius delicti crimen majus ordini dedecus, plus mali religioni, plus
doloris omnibus bonis impresserit, inusserit, attulerit, quam sacerdotum
libidinis labes." — De Rerum Inventoribus (1644), p. 347.
1 The exact title of this work, an early edition of which is, I believe,

20 INTEODUCTION.
The Articles of the Faith, or Creed, are as
follows : —
i. " I beleve in God the father almighty creatour of
heven and of erth.
ii. And in his sone Jesu Christ ower lorde.
iii. Which was conceived by the holy gost, and
born of the clene Virgen Marie.
iiii. Which suffred under Poncio Pilato, and was

very rare, is Joannis Coleti Theologi, olim Decani Divi Pauli, csditio,una
cum quibusdam G. Lilii Grammatices rudimentis. There is a copy in
the King's Library of the British Museum (marked C. 12. e. 5), printed
at Antwerp, by Martin Csesar, in August 1535. It contains eighty-
seven pages, of which 13 and 14 are missing. In the Grenville Library
there is also a copy (marked 7475), printed in June 1536, which is
perfect. I have not been able to discover any earlier edition, but I imagine
there is no doubt as to this portion of the work being from Colet's own
pen. In Strype's Stow (1720), vol. i. pp. 163 sqq. we are told that
" Colet also framed a short Catechism in English for the youth of his
school, which he obliged all to learn, and was used in the time of
Popery to be bound up at the beginning of the Accidence." After a
description of the parts of this Catechism, which corresponds with what
is found in the editions above-mentioned, Strype concludes : — " If the
superstitious parts of this Catechism had been laid aside, and the rest,
which is very pious, had been retained for the use of the school, it
would, in my opinion, have been very well done, and the Founder's
Will more complied with."
And in Pepys's Diary (1848), vol. ii. p. 439, there is the following
entry under March 9, 1665: — "At Paul's School, where I visited
Mr. Crumlum at his house . . . and he did, upon my declaring
my value of it, give me one of Lillie's Grammers, of a very old im
pression, as it was in the Caiholique times, which I shall set much by."
From a previous entry, under Feb. 4, 1663, we have a further descrip
tion of what was, no doubt, the same book : — " Mr. Crumlum ....
also showed us upon my desire an old edition of the Grammer of
Colett's, where his Epistle to the children is very pretty ; and in re
hearsing the Creed it is said, ' borne of the cleane Virgin Mary.' "

INTEODUCTION. 21
crucified and dyed, and was buried, and des
cended to hel.
v. Which rose again the third daye frome deth to
life.
vi. Which ascended into heven and sittethe at the
right hande of the father almighty.
vii. Which shal come againe and judge both quicke
and deed.
viii. I beleve in the holy gost the holy spirite of
God.
ix. I beleve in the holy chirche of Christ, which is
the clene congregacion of faithful people in
grace and communion of saintes onely in
Christ Jesu.
x. I beleve that in the Chirche of Christe is re
mission of synnes both by baptime and by
penaunce.
xi. I beleve aftir this life resurreccion of oure deed
bodyes.
xii. I beleve at the last everlastinge life of body and
soule. Amen."
Next follow The Seven Sacramentes : —
" I beleve also that by the seven Sacraments of
the Chirch cometh grete grace to al that take
them accordingly.
i. By gracious ordre is given power to minister in
God.
ii. By gracious matrimony we ar born in to this
worlde to God.
iii. By gracious baptym we ar born agein the sones
of God.

22 INTEODUCTION.
iiii. By gracious counfirmation we are stablysshed
in the grace of God.
v. By gracyous Eucharistye where is ye very pre
sence of the persone of Christ under forme
of breed, we be nouresshed spiritually in
God.
vi. By gracious penaunce we rise againe from synne
to grace in God.
vii. By gracious Enoelinge and the laste anointinge
we are in oure deth commended to God."
After the Oratio Dominica, and Salutatio Angelica,
there follows next a prayer to the Virgin Mary :
" Sancta Maria, virgo et mater Jesu, age cum filio
tuo, ut hs3C schola quotidie proficiat in ipso, utque
omnes pueri in eadem discant ipsum et erudiantur
in ipso, tandem ut perfecti filii Dei fiant per ipsum.
Et tu quoque, Jesu benignissime, age cum patre tuo
et patre nostro, ut gratia sui spiritus, nos suos filiolos
faciat, sic te Jesu discere et imitari in hoc seculo, ut
una tecum foeliciter regnemus in futuro."
Immediately after which comes the Oratiuncula ad
patrem [sic : leg. puerum~\ Jesum Scholce pro3sidem,
which is given in Knight, p. 383. '

1 I have been the more precise in giving the Prayer to the Virgin
Mary at full, because there is no intimation of it in Knight, nor yet
any Table of the Sacraments, as above. And yet, at p. 131 he says,
speaking of some Prayers of Erasmus, " though made long before the
foundation of Paul's School, they were never recommended to the
boys ; nor indeed anything else of foppery or Popish superstition ; so
that, considering the original constitution of it, it might be called the
first Protestant School before the Reformation." So, indeed, it justly
might ; but the reasons for saying so should be sound. St. Paul's
School, like any other public institution, took the complexion of the

INTEODUCTION. 23
It will be observed that, in the above Table of the
Sacraments, Colet retains the same order as in his
Treatise. Nor should the wording' of the Fifth
escape notice. It is much nearer to the language of
our own Church than it is to that of the Council of
Trent.1 In the Carmina Scholaria* which Erasmus composed

times. Thus in 1527, only eight years after Colet's death, we find the
boys, under their master, Rightwise, acting a masque before the King
at Greenwich, in which one character was " The heretic Luther, like a
party-friar, in russet damask and black taffety." In Hall's Chronicle
(ed. 1809), from which chiefly Froude {Hist. Eng. i. pp. 70-73) gives
his interesting account of this entertainment, the scholars who acted
are not stated to be from St. Paul's School. And in many of the
accounts of these old plays, the " children of Paul's" must be
understood of those in the Cathedral School. But in the present
instance, a passage from the original document, given in Collier's
History of English Dramatic Poetry (1831), vol. i. p. 110, shows
clearly who are meant : — •" It. payd by me Rychard Gybson, for
byer [beer] and aell and bred for xxxviii chylldern, the Master, the
Ussher, and the Masstres, that et and dranke, 3s. 2d. It. Mast.
Ryghtwos, Master of Powlls School, axethe to be alowed for dobelets,
hossys [hosen] and schoos for the chylldern that were poore mens
sons ; and for fyer in tyem of lernyng of the play, as by hys byll
apperythe, 45s. Qd. ; so for kosts by the sayd Mast. Ryghtwos doon,
sma. 45s. M."
1 Compare the SJwrte Catechisme . . . sett fourth by the Kings
Majesties authoritie, for all scholemaisters to teach (1553 : reprinted
in the Enchiridion Theologicum, 1825, vol. i. p. 30) :— " And even as
by breade and wyne our natural bodies are susteined and nourished ;
so by the body, that is, the flesh and bloude of Christ, the soule is fed
through fayth, and quickened to the heavenlye and godly lyfe."
Nor is the language of our present Catechism less similar.
On the other hand, compare the decision of the Council of Trent
{Sessio decima tertia, canon iv.) : — " Hsjc Synodus declarat, per con-
secrationem panis et vini, conversionem fieri totius substantias panis in
substantiam corporis Christi ; " and the Cateehismus, Pars ii. § 40.
2 Of which, by the kindness of F. Seebohm, Esq., I have seen
editions of 1512,-14,- 16, and -20. As they are correctly reprinted in
Knight, p. 125, I do not quote from them.

24 INTEODUCTION.
for use in the new school, there is a remarkable
absence of anything like invocation of saints, or of
the Virgin Mary. There was one hymn, indeed,
which we are told was sung by the children on enter
ing and leaving school,1 which it is to be feared is lost.
At least there is nothing among the extant Carmina
Scholaria of Erasmus which quite answers to the
description. The present High Master of St. Paul's
School, Dr. Kynaston, whose graceful pen has done
so much to supply the want of which he complains,
says in the Preface to his Cantica Coletina : — " Eras
mus was our first contributor; and happy indeed
should we be, if we possessed the hymn which he
tells us was daily sung before the picture of the
Child Jesus at the entering and departing of the
children." At the end of a little parchment-covered book,2 of
which the title-page runs Continentur in hoc libello
plena; pietatis aliquot Erasmi lucubraciunculo3 : Concio
de puero Jesu : Oratio ad Deum : Pcean ad divam
Virginem : Oratio ad deiparam Mariam, there are
some short pieces in Latin verse, by Cornelius Gra-
pheus,3 of Alst. One of these pieces, entitled In

1 " And all the young fry when they come in and go out of school
(beside their appointed prayers) salute Christ with an hymn ; winch you
may read amongst Erasmus's Epigrams." Smith's translation of the
Letter to Justus Jonas, &c. (1661), p. 66, and u. So in Fuller's Abel
Redivivus (1651), p. 100. " Whom the children as they entered the
schoole were wont to salute with a sacred Hymne, composed, if I be
rightly informed, by Erasmus."
I know not on what authority this hymn was ascribed to Erasmus.
2 Brit. Mus. 4375. a. It bears date Lovanil, 1514.
;i See an account of him iu Appendix ii. of vol. i. of Ullman's
Reformers before the Reformation (tr. by Menzies, 1855). He was

INTEODUCTION. 25
nativum, Hiesum Ode, contains stanzas which might
possibly have been so sung.
The whole is too long to be quoted here ; but I
give the first and last, with one of the intermediate
stanzas : — " Salve, parve puellule,
Salve, maxime ccelitum,
Et rerum pater omnium ;
Salve, dulcis hiesu.
Vagis, parve puellule :
Ne vagi, pue ; parvuli
Te multi puerum pueri_
Optant visere dulcem.
Atque hsec nostra tenerrimo
Affectu data votula
Illi, indigna Deo licet,
Offer, Diva, precamur."
Occurring, as it does, in the same book with the
Concio depuero Jesu, which was composed for delivery
in St. Paul's School, it is barely possible that this
ode, or some portion of it, was the hymn referred to
by Erasmus ; but that is the most that can be said.
There is a little work, commonly assignee1 ^o Colet,
which has been often reprinted, under the title of
Daily Devotions, or the Christian's Morning and Even
ing Sacrifice . . . by John Colet, D.D.1 Of this, the first

born in 1482, the year before Luther, and in 1520 published Goch's
work on Christian Liberty, for which, the year after, he was imprisoned.
He was a friend of Erasmus, but not a thorough-going Reformer.
1 " There are extant two speeches of his made to the Convocation ;
some Essays upon*fc.ammar, Prayers for daily use, and an Exhorta
tion to a Holy Life." — Collier's Ecclesiastical History (1852), vol. iv.
p. 30. But the account is very inaccurate : thus Colet's father is
called Sir John Colet ; Polydore Vergil is Vigil, &o. In a commu
nication to Notes and Queries, Aug. 1, 1863, p. 94, mention is made of

26 INTEODUCTION.
piece alone, headed in the later editions An useful
Direction in order to a Good Christian Life, but in the
original A right fruitfull Admonition concerning the
order of a good Christian Man's Life, is Colet's compo
sition. The reader will see a great contrast between
the plain, practical tone of the following extract 1 from
it, and that which he caught from Dionysius : — " If
thou be religious, remember that the due execution
of true religion is not in wearing of the habite, but
with a cleane mynde in very deed to execute the
rules and ordinances of religion. For so it is, that
to weare the habite* and not to execute the rule and
order of religion, is rather to be deemed hypocrisie,
or apostasie, than otherwise. If thou be lay and un-
maried, keepe thee cleane unto the time thou be
maried. And remember the sore and terrible
punishmente of Noe's flood, and of the terrible fyre
and brimstone and sore punishment of Sodome and
Gomor, done to man for misusing of the fleshe. . . .
And if thou intende to mary, or be maried, and hast a

Anthony a Wood reckoning the Daily Devotions among Colet's
works ; but the writer adds, " its authenticity appears questionable."
I think I can trace the history of the book. In 1577 there was
printed for Gabriel Cawood a little volume (Brit. Mus. C. 21, a.) con
sisting of three treatises : (1 ) A righte fruitfull admonition, concern
ing the order of a good Christian man's life . . . . made by the famous
Doctour Colete ; (2) A Godly Treatise, declaring the benefites ....
of Prayer. Written in Latin fourtie yeers past by an Englishman of
great vertue and learning ; (3) A brefe Treatise exhorting sinners to
Repentance. The first of these treatises was kept prefixed to a volume
which grew and altered, somewhat after the manner of a modern hymn-
book, and gradually caused the name of Colet's Daily Devotions to be
given to the whole. I have seen the 19th, 20th, and 22nd editions
(1684-1722), and in the first of these three, Colet's treatise is still
left unpaged.
1 I quote from the edition of 1577, leaf 5, a.

INTEODUCTION. 27
good wife, thanke our Lord therefore, for she is of his
sending. And remember that three thinges in es-
peciall bene pleasaunt to the spirite of God ; that is
to say, concord betwene brethren, love and charitie
betwene neighbours, and a man and his wyfe wel
agreeing. And if thou have an evyl wife, take pa-
cience, and thanke God ; for all is for the best, well
taken. Howbeit thou art bounde to doo and pray
for her amendement, least she go to the Devyl, from
whom she came. And have in remembraunce, that
the intent of mariage is not in the beastly appetite
or pleasure in the thing ; but the intent thereof is to
eschewe the sinne of the fleshe, or els to have children.
And if thou have children, as much as thou mayest,
bring them up in vertue, to be the servauntes of God :
for it is better for thee and them not to be borne,
than to be otherwise."
Having said thus much, I will do no more than
present the reader with a brief Synopsis of Colet's
Treatise, and leave him to form his judgment from
the Treatise itself. He will now be prepared, I
think, to regard it only as " representmg a phase of
thought through which Colet passed;" not as the
work of his maturest years. Dean Colet never ceased
indeed to believe in the reality of that spiritual mar
riage and union betwixt Christ and His Church,
which is so fully discoursed of in the following pages ;
but he came to look on earthly marriage as no more
"common or unclean;" but as a state in which
the " sacrifice of righteousness " might still be
offered to God. That prolem justitias, of which he
speaks again and again, Colet in his time largely

28 INTEODUCTION.
helped to bring forth. But we must look for it less
in the written works which he has left behind, than
in the effects which he wrought upon the men of the
age in which he lived. When we think of the versa
tile and prolific, but less stable, genius of Erasmus,
it is hardly wrong to say, that to the femineus homo
there, he was the Vir Deus. And what he was for
men like Erasmus and More, he has been, in measure,
for thousands of others, whose tale is not yet num
bered. His association with them has been in truth
a fecundissima conjunctio. His writings fill no volume
with their titles only, as do those of Erasmus; his
presence does not pervade the history of that period,
like the presence of Wolsey : but, when we learn to.
trace events to their source, and actions to their
motives; to look beyond the decrees of king and
pope, beyond the printing-presses of Basle and Paris
and London and Louvain, we may begin to feel his
true greatness. And the estimate of Southey1 will
then seem to us scarcely an exaggerated one, when
he pronounced him to be " the best and wisest of his

age.

1 Common-Place Book. Second Series (1849), p. 332.

SYNOPSIS.

ROM God all things have their being, form, and per
fection. He is the true Priest, and the source of all
priesthood in heaven and earth. He himself is perfect
Purity, Light, and Goodness ; and the priestly office
is an unceasing imitation of Him in these three
qualities.
The Angels first fulfil this office ; and being consecrated as priests
to God in a threefold order, through purification, illumination, perfec
tion, they offer to Him the sacrifice of righteousness. In the world
their office consists in the restoration of a true and right order
in things. Hence the name of Orders given to the priesthood Page 35

II.
The first Sacrament instituted was that of Orders, or Priesthood.
By this sacrament were the heavenly intelligences bound to fight, in
the strength of God, for the restoring of unity, beauty, and perfection,
where the enemy had brought in multiplicity, deformity, and defect.
The Mosaic Priesthood, with its multitude of sacrifices and obla
tions, was a shadow of the heavenly hierarchy.
In this world, which is the temple of God, the three ternaries of
Angels spread the threefold rays of God, the divine Sun, in purifica
tion, illumination, and perfection . . . Page 38

III.
In the heavenly natures there are, moreover, all the other Sacra-

30 SYNOPSIS.
ments, but after a spiritual manner. These are Marriage, Penitence,
Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Extreme Unction.
There is the Sacrament of Marriage, because the heavenly spirits
are as a wife to God, their husband. To Him they cling, and from
Him they become fruitful for the propagation of righteousness.
Whilst towards God they are as the wife, towards mankind they are
as the husband, making them in turn prolific with the offspring of
righteousness. Hence Marriage and Priesthood are one and the same ; righteous
ness at once the offspring and the sacrifice. Of this spiritual marriage
the earthly rite is but a poor and empty shadow. A fuller discussion
of this being reserved till afterwards, a rapid survey may be taken of
the manner in which the other Sacraments are solemnized in the
world, which is the temple of God . . . Page 42

IV.
The Sacrament of Penitence might more properly be called that of
Reconciliation. It is carried on by the spiritual, or sacerdotal part of
created beings, whose office is to restore order in disorder.
This they do by acting on the lower, the corrupt and sensual part,
and renewing in it the image of God.
For this work of purifying, illumining, confirming, and finally per
fecting that which is fallen, signs arid sacraments are needed.
For man, whose nature is twofold, spiritual and corporeal, these
sacraments are of a like twofold nature. There is in them the visible (
sign and the invisible thing signified . . Page~43

V.
In the ministry, which the heavenly hierarchy performs, we may
conceive that there are offices like those in the Church on earth, but of
far higher order. These are Ostiarii, or door-keepers ; Lectorcs, or
readers ; Exorcists ; Acolytes and Sub-Deacons. They are exercised
in the work of purification, as the two higher grades are in the works
of illumination and perfection.
The functions of the inferior orders above-mentioned are described.
These, as well as the two superior orders, all work after, a pattern
from God. In the Mosaic Church there was the, slSkdow; in the
Christian Church there, is^ the image, or visMeJigiij' in heaven there \
is the reality. The sketchjmust precede the~nmshed^iicture. So with/
respect to the Sacraments. Among the AngersThefels the reajity of
that which they symbolize to us. We have but the figure Page 46

SYNOPSIS. 31

VI.

On the origin of that evil which made sacraments necessary.
The Angels, who fell from their first estate, have not ceased to devise |
mischief against mankind. Hence the Temptation in Eden, the Fall, j
and man's subsequent misery.
But as Adam fell, not without being tempted, he had an excuse
which the Devil had not. Hence a way_of restoration was opened to
him. As man was created to be the Spouse of Christy he had now to i
be re-created. The words of St. Paul are repeated, touching " the
depth "of*the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God," in thus
bringing good out qfeviL
In this re-creation the goodness of God is shown even more strikingly
¦than in the first creation of manr" There was no cause why man should
not be created at the beginning, but afterwards there was cause why he
(should not be created anew.
The effect of this mercy is shown in an increase of humility on the
part of man, whose nature, divested of its old clothing, and arrayed in I
wedding garments, is then fitted to be united in marriage to God.
f This union"being so great and wonderful, the sacramenT of it was
j ordained to precede the Fall. (Eve, taken from the side of Adam, was
a sign of the Church taken from the side of Christ? The command,
" increase TmTTnultiply," foretokened the Jnultiplying of a spiritual
offspring. Thus Adam's prophecy is fulfilled, and Christ and His Church are^
joined together in one Spirit. This is the " great mystery," of which
St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, and the depth of which he does not
attempt to fathom. '
Adam was " the figure of Him that was to come : " one theforogeni-
""tor of the flesh, unto_death); the (other 'of the spirit, unto life.') (In
(Christ jthere ought not to be any propagation of the flesh; the only''
/offspring to be sought for being that of righteousness. ^-v/U.
Man, as carnal, cannot be united with God, who is spiritual. There
must therefore be a mortifying of the flesh, and a (quickening again in ,
the spirit. This trutEls largely enforced by passages from St. Paul's
Epistles. dv^; * . . .
The fruits_ofthis union betwixt Christ and His Church are described \
by St. Paul to the Galatians ; and are, in brief, the works of righteous- I
ness. ^
/ To the4niman nature in Christ the tftrorcj^js as_ a sister ; to the \
( divine nature in Him as a wife ; to God the Father as a married
\daughter. /
CRhI the Father is the King who would make a marriage for His
Son. That Son is the ffi Husband, the source of all true marriage

32 SYNOPSIS.
!in heaven and earth. In this heavenly union mankind would have
been joined to Him from the first, but for the transgression in Eden.
God, who foresaw the spiritual adultery that mankind would com
mit, foreordained also the restoration from it ; and earthly marriage
was instituted as a sign from the beginning of the spiritual union that
' should be.
At length, in the fulness oftinie, Christ came down from heaven as
1 the Bridegroom ; leaving Him who was at once His father and His
> mother, to cleave unto His wife the Church.
** Before such a bride could be prepared, " not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing," much time and labour must be spent. For this
end a better and purer part of mankind wore all along kept
I reserved by the providence of God, till what had been growing ripened
| at length in the fruit of the " stem of Jesse," Jesus; made '• male
land female;" male, in His divinity, female in His humanity; through
which humanity He was to draw to Himself the rest of mankind that
were needed "to complete the Church, IDs Bride.
This being the only true marriage, Dionysius is therefore, perhaps,
silent on marriage in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, because its Sacra-
. ment preceded the institution of the Church.
For the completion of His bride, the Church, by gathering in all of
imankind that remains to be united to it/Christ, our High Priest, ordains
His children to labour as priests under Him. By the remaining Sa-
jcraments of Penitence, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, and Extreme
Unction, as by visible cords, the rest are thus drawn to Him.
In this work they imitate Christ, and are in turn themselves as hus-
\ bands to the rest of the world ; the fruit of their intercourse being
righteousness. David meant this when he wrote, " Offer the sacrifices of righteous
ness;" and the same is shown to be the meaning of St. Paul in
various passages. The offspring and the sacrifice are one. In offering
i this sacrifice, there is an active and there is a passive element in the
| Church; but both together make up that "spiritual house" and "holy
; priesthood " of which St. Peter speaks . Page 50
VII.
r The propagation of the flesh, through earthly marriage, though
(allowed by St. Paul to the Corinthians, of necessity rather than of free
¦will,, is in itself not a thing of Christ. Neither is any such marriage,
nor the issue of it, required in Christianity ; though to the weak it may
,bo needful to permit it. Provided that the reality of the Sacrament have
been obtained, the sacramental character disappears from it. Heathen
dom woidd have supplied material enough for the work of regeneration;
even though in this respect the Church had been barren. Nor nood

SYNOPSIS. 33
there have been any fear that all the world would grow Christian, when,
even under tho name of Christianity, the greater part were heathens.
Hence St. Paul would have all men to be even as he himself was;
although, for the avoidance of greater evils, he gave permission to
marry. Yet it is to be wished that all the Christian world were in
celibaoy, as was the desire of St. Paid himself.
Orders and marriage are thus proper to the higher, or masculine,
part of the Church ; in which part are various ranks of ministers, as
before said. Their office is to act upon the weaker and feminine part.'i
that it may bring forth the fruits of righteousness . . Page 73
VIII.
As the righteousness which is thus brought forth is from God, and is
the reflection of the light of truth and goodness which streams down
from Him ; so, that man may be able to show this image reflected in
himself, he must be purified and changed from that " multiplicity^"
which is akin to sin and death, to " simplicity ", whicli is truth and I
life. -* ^fw,^-^ I
In restoring this "inner man," and "single eye," is the work of
the priesthood. It is only in the light of God that men can "see J
light." While distracted by the manifold affairs of the world, men in j
reality are not. They must therefore be drawn back from such a disso
lution, and reunited to God, " by the bringing in of a better hope."
The old clothing must be stripped off, that the renewed man may be
fit for heavenly raiment ; the vessel cleansed, that it may be refilled.
Thus, the first work of the priesthood is purification, and the bring
ing in of a better hope. Men in this state are Catechumens, on whom
the others act as Readers, Exorcists, and the like.
The Penitence which this purification brings about must be sincere
and real. ~ There must be compensation for wrongs done, as well as '.
confession of them. Until a man is thus purified, he is not in the ,'
mystical body of Christ. As this is rather a preparation for Sacra*
ments than a Sacrament itself, therefore Dionysius does not expressly)
treat of it.
Our penitence may often have to bo repeated ; such is the fluctu
ating character of the warfare we wage. But, though he who falls and
rises again is not to be compared with him who has never fallen, yet
God will have compassion on us at every fresh effort to recover our
selves. At such times there is joy in heaven.
It is not the office of Sacraments to scatter darkness and cleanse
away defilement, but to introduce light. Those results then of neces- \
sity follow. Hence Baptism iiTspeciaiiy called by Dionysius the Sacra- '<
ment of Illumination. In it there is the presence of the Spirit of
Light.

34 SYNOPSIS.
i By the approach of that, light, the little ^ cloud of_ original sin is dis-
j pelled from infants : adults must of themselves confess and abjure their
sins. This they can only do by the help of God. Through the inter
vention of the Sacrament, the will of God for their release from their
sins is communicated to them. No sins are remitted which the peni
tent himself does not remit by his_own confession; none are retained
which the sinner himself does not retain. There is no remission of
Sins but from God ; the priest who absolves only declares and confirms
;he will to repent, on the part of the sinner, and the will to pardon, on
ihe side of God.
This Sacrament, which the later Church called Penitence, might fitly
be called Reconciliation and Remission . . . Page 78

f1

rx.
Baptism iljuimnesjthose who_ are purified, and is the seal of faith he-
stowed by God. Confirmation witnesses the sure gift of the Holy
1 Spirit. It took its rise from the sending of Peter and John to Samaria,
and might be called the Sacrament of the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
The Sacrament of Communion in the food of Christ's flesh and blood
shared in^common, is the feeding and nourishing of those who have
been confirmed.
Lastly, Extreme Unction, which used to be performed after death
also, but now at the last extremity, so far as that can be discerned, is
the Sacrament of labour done and warfare ended. It has its warrant in
the words of St. James. "
There are many Anointings in the Church, which are the divers ex
hortations of the Holy Ghost. His coming, and the effects wrought by
jHim, are what Sacraments signify to the faithful, to their eternal
salvation ... ..... Page 92

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLZE.

per .Filium cum ^udtu
DrmariJ '*

DEO Patre
sancto sunt, formantur, et perficiuntur
omnia. A sanctissima Trinitate omnis
% consecratio est; videlicet a Deo per
Filium cum Spiritu sancto. Deus jrerus sacerdos
est, a quo omne sacerdotium in coelo et in terra
nominatur. In Deo vere sunt omnia; extra Deum \
imitatio est Dei. In Deo, qui aejernus est, seterna
sunt omnia. Illic paternitas et filiatio' et amor et
sacerdotium seternum est. Sacerdotium illic est qui-
dem, ut ita dicam, sacerdotificans ; omne enim sacer- I
dotium a Deo est, sacerdotum. sacerdote : sacerdotale
munus es[t qu£e]dam Dei assidua-imitatio in puritate, \
luce, et bonitate. Deus ipse est puritas, lux, et ]
bonitas. Post Deum haec relucent_in angelis, quos
Deus, summus sacerdos, purificando, illuminando, et
perficiendo,1 sibi consecravit. Consecravit autem et

1 Perficiendo.] Purification, illumination, and perfection, are the
three objects ... of _£he,.SacramentSj and give exercise to the threefold
order of the ministry. Thus in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, c. vi.

36 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESI^I.
dedicavit sibi, ut angeli in se triunum Deum in hac
trinitate referant. Quatenus hsec tria eminentissime
in Deo sunt; Deus est ipse qui colitur et cui sacrifi-
catur. Quatenus sanctificator ille haec propagans
creat, illuminat, perficit, sacerdos est mirifice et sa-
crificans sibi et aliis sacerdotes consecrans. Effectus
illius benignissimi divini sacerdotii primus in angelis
est; qui in tanto consecratore et summo pontifice
evaserunt feliciter sacerdotes consecrati Deo ab ipso
! Deo, ut Deum deinceps consecratione imitentur : imi-
' tentur, inquam, consecrando, sacrificandoque triplici
ilia ratione purgandi, illuminandi et perficiendi, qua,
ipsi Deo sunt consecrati. Propagatio enim oportet
sit Dei, et illius benignitatis derivatio.1 In hoc
officio qui sunt, in sancto Dei sacerdotio sunt. Quod
sacerdotali munere sanctificatur Deo, sacerdotis sacri-
i ficium est Deo acceptissimum. Velit Deus ut sacer-
/ dotes sacrificent sibi in sanctificatione, sicut ille

pars iii. Dionysius writes, " Conclusimus igitur, sancta quidem mysteria
I purgationem esse et illuminationem atque perfectionem: ministros
i vero, purgantem ordinem ; sacerdotes autem, illuminantem ; consum-
! mantem autem sive consecrantem, divinos esse pontifices."
I have thought it best, in the quotations from Dionysius, to give
the Latin version of Ambrosius (1498) ; which alone, probably, Colet
had read. The first Greek edition was the Juntine, in 1515.
1 Derivatio.] The first chapter of the Celestial Hierarchy com
mences with the words of St. James, i. 17, " Every good gift, and
every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights." Hence we are to learn that we best imitate God by be
coming in turn the bestowers of good. Colet aptly expresses this
thought in the introduction to the abstract of the Celestial Hierarchy
which he has made for a friend : — " In his qua? didicimus in eo libro
id vel primum et maximum est, ut, quicquid aliunde accepimus boni,
. id_benigniter deinceps impartiamus .aliis et communicemus ; hoc imi-
I tati inestimabilem Dei bonitatem, qui largitur se et ordine^ommunicat
universis." School MS. fol. 1, a.

DE SACEAMENTIS ECCLESLE. 37
sanctificans sacerdotes ipsos sibi [sacrificat.J Pro- ]
pagatio Deitatis maximum et proprium est Deo
sacrificium. Opus enim est ardentissimae- charitatis, |
et ob id quidem opus justissimum. Justitia Deus
placatur mirifice. Hinc illud Davidicum, " Sacrifi-[ps.iv. e.
Cate sg;crincium justitiae." Inter se mutuo et sine) >c-<4
intermissione angeli sacerdotale munus exercent, sa-
crificantque justitiam. Item fit extra se, ut quam
latissime in Deo justi appareant. Moliuntur omni
cpnatu in Or dine ipso ordinante constantem et justum
ordinem in rebus. Hie effectus sacerdotalis muneris
est. Unde sacerdotium 0.rdp a recentiori ecclesia s
cognominatum est. Ordinata in ordinatores; ordi-
natores in Ordinem1 ipsum referuntur. OrJ.o ipse
ratio est Dei ilia omniformis, ab intima Dei mente "
deprompta, tota et ad^quataj)ivinitatis summi,, ipsa "
pulchritudo, quod ipsum est verbum Dei exjalto ore i
prolatum, Deum totum intimo exitu plenissime, ex-'
pressissime significans; quo, pulcherrimo ordine, die-'
tata sunt omnia. In quo ab ordinatis in propaga-
tionem ordinis laboratur. Primum et maxime in
stab^m_et justum ordinem rerum sacerdotali officio i
expurgans, illustrans et perficiens, Ordo ipse agit et
operatur; et in eo deinceps qui sunt ordines, ordine
quisque suo. Primus ergo sacerdos est Ordo ipse, )
et primus ordo Sacerdos ipse. Hie est sacratissimus
Dei asternus Filius, cui Pater in ore David haec verba
habuit : " Tu es sacerdos in aeternum, secundum or- Ps. cix. 4.
 *-  —  —  / ~
1 Ordinem.] Thus, in the De Divinis Nominibus, c. iv. pars i. God
is called *2£WiJ>rj0rder. In the same passage Dionysius speaks of
the " supersubstantiale illud pulchrum," in God, which draws, and as \
it were calls men to itself : — " unde etiam pulchritudo greco vocabulo
calos, a vocando, dicitur.'' I

38 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE.
/dinem Melchisedech," cujus ordinis neque principium
I neque finis agnoscitur. Itaque aeternus sacerdos est
Dei, ipse Deus sacerdotificans : idem aeternus Dei
ordo; ipse Deus ordinans omnia, a quo omnis sacer-
dotalis ordo est, et omne ordinatum sacerdotium.
Ille ordo et sacerdos primum ordinavit sacerdotium
in coelis sanctissimorum spirituum; in quibus est
: illuminatio, purgatio et perfectio,1 et inter se maxime
; ipsorum, et omnium. Sacerdos etiam ille primus et
exemplaris, in quo sunt omnia, qui ipse est omnia
verissime, is ipsum est etiam sacramentum sacrificans
omnia, omniaque sacramenta faciens, quae omnia
ipsum referant, sacramentorum sacramentum.

II.
! Primum autem conditum sacramentum, per quod
deinde omnia alia sacramenta condantur, erat quod
:; ordinem vocant et sacerdotium. In principio a Sa-
cerdote ipso et Ordine. Consecravit enim et aperte
astrinxit Sacramento felicissimos illos spiritus, ut in
ipso ordinum auctore sancte et ordinate commilitent.
Militia enim in Deo omne sacerdotium est; ut, in
viribus Dei, Dei creaturam a rationibus Deo con-

| J 'Perfectio.] The Celestial Orders themselves being spoken of as
ifulfilling these offices for one another, not merely for mankind. Thus,
\Eccl. Hier. c. vi. p. iii : " Ita sunt et qui illuminantur ordines, et qui
consummantur ; purgantes item et illuminantes ac perficientes in hier
archia ccelesti. Quando supremse ilia? divinioresque substantias infe-
riores sacras ccelestesque distinctiones ignorantia omni emundant in
ordinibus ac proportionibus ccelestium functionum, ipsasque sacratiorum
doctrmarum fulgore implent atque perficiunt."

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIIE. 39
trariis vindicent; utque agant ut Deus ubique et in
omnibus luculente appareat. Quoniam authores ma-
litiae nequitiaeque indesinenter agunt, ut sibi ex bono
malum exaugeant ; ut, quemadmodum depravaverint
se, ita alia quaecumque, quoad possunty; in meremen-
tum1 malr> depravent ; cceleste sacerdotium conse-
cratur Deo, et sacramentali nexu obligatur, ut in
uno pulchro et bono Deo unitatem,2 pulchritudinem
et perfectionem rerum conquirant et conservent, a
rationibus videlicet contrariis, multiplicitate, defor-
mitate et defectu, quae assidue moliuntur in mundo
qui sua ipsorum improbitate apostatarunt, ex Lucifero '
illo factus tenebrifer, Diabolus, et satellites ejus. ;
Sacratissimi illi, quos dedicavit sibi Deus ipse, statim
post defectionem illorum qui in suum malum cor-
ruerunt, in Mc rerum universitate, quod Dei est _,
templum, exstant magnifici sacerdotes summi Dei, et
industriosi exercitus magni Dei SabaotEf tales facti
a Deo, ut pro datis viribus sine intermissione in\
mundo, suapte natura labente, conquirant Deo justi- I
tiam, justitiamque consacrificent. Quorum assiduita- I
tern in hac parte, Moysaicum sacerdotium, quod )
scatet hostiis et immolationibus, plenissime adum+si*

1 In mer. mali.] " To become subjects, or material, of evil." Me-
rementum is a word thaFEaiT"come from materia, through the length- '¦
ened form materiamentum. The form merrementum is found in ;
Statutes of the year 1246. — Glossarium Manuale (1776).
8 Both Dionysius and Colet lay much stress on the divineness of
unitas. Compare the De Divinis Nominibus, c. xiii : " Denique si
unum tollas, neque totem erit, neque pars aliqua, neque aliud quic-
quam in rebus. Omnia enim in seipso unum uniformiter praaaccipit
atque complectitur . . . . Et expedit ut nos quoque a multis ad unum,
virtute divinse unitatis, conversi, unice laudemus totam atque unam
deitatem, unum, omnium causam."

40 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESL/E.
brat.1 Illi ergo imitantes exemplar et causam omnis
sacerdotii, ordinem etiam et justitiam ipsam, in pro-
pagatione justitiae Dei elab[orant], hoc maxime sacri-
ficantes Deo, et vero suo fungentes officio sacerdotali,
iquod est quidem, in sole Deo, triplici Dei^adio
/ purgatorio, illuminatorio et perfectorio, et quam late
fieri potest et quam longe, copiosum justitiae fructum
parere et procurare. Quoniam sacerdotium est certe
imitatio Dei in amplificationejustitiaa. In eo munere
! ordines illi angelorum, numero novem (sicuti describit
': Dionysius),2 longe excellunt et antiquitate et veritate.
Qui consecrati et consummati ordines in creatura,
1 Adumbrat.] Eccl. Hier. c^vj?. jh " Cum parvuli essemus ....
legale indulsit sacerdotium, obscuris verarum rerum imaginibus et
figuris, a primitivis suis remotissimis, signisque haud facile penetrabi-
libus ac typis opertam habentibus neque discerni facilem intelhgentiam ;
congruam, et viribus nostris convenientem lucem; ut imbecillioribus
ocuhs innocue infulgens."
2 Ccelestis Hierarchia, c. vi : " Omnes simul coelestes immorta-
lesque substantias in novem ordines divinus sermo distinxit, propriisque
ac significantibus vocabuhs appellavit. Has eximius praeceptor noster
in ternas tertio repetitas distinctiones ad Sancta? Trinitatis divisit
imaginem. Ac primam quidem esse ait quae coram Deo versetur
semper, idque ex divina dignatione susceperit, ut illi inhsereat jugiter,
nulhsque mediis interjectis spiritibus, inseratur. Nam sanctissimos
Thronos, et oculis plurimis alisque praeditos ordines, Cherubin, scilicet,
et Seraphin, Hebrseorum voce appellatos, juxta Deum, nullis mediis
insertis agminibus, eminenti propinquitate locates ait; idque sancta-
rum Scripturarum tradere expositionem  Secundam vero
asseruit, quae Potestatibus, Dominationibus, Virtutibusque conficiter.
Tertiam item, quse in ccelestibus functionibus extremum teneat locum,
,ex Angelis et Archangelis Principatibusqae constantem."
i These three ternaries are illustrated in Ambrosius's Version by a
diagram, such as Colet has several times adopted in the following

The Reader will hardly need to be reminded of Paradise Lost (v.
600) :— v
" Hear all ye Angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers."

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESM). 41
mundi, Dei templo, perfecti sacerdotes sunt, sanctis-
sime se in sacrificiis laudis exercentes. In quo
mundo constituit Deus angelos sacerdotes, ut sibi ¦
merementum Dei sacrificent in omnibus ; id est, sim- v J
plicem et veram bonitatem. Dei filius [est] summus <
et aeternus pontifex, condens et templum mundi, et
angellcos ac spiritales sacerdotes, item sacramenta et
sacrificia constituens omnia ipse in omnibus sacrifi-
cantibus, sacrificans .Deo Patri . suo, ut universus I
mundus nihil sit nisi templum, sacerdotium et sacri- j
ficia Deo, in eo qui ipse est templum templi, et I
sacerdotii et sacrificii Veritas ; — Deo Patri suo, a quo
aeterniter accepit omnia, et ut sit templum, sacerdos
et sacrificium. Primus itaque et summus pontifex \
est Deus ipse, cujus sacra est sedes templum creaturte,
in quo sacerdotes sunt angeli, in quo sacrificium est
simplex veraque justitia; quam ut sacrificent, quin
immo ut inter sacrificandum ministri sint (pontifex
est enim ipse qui omnia in omnibus consacrificat), in
perpetuum sacerdotium Deo consecrantur. Quo fit
ut in sacramentis prior et antiquior sit Ordo, et Sa-;
cerdotium, in templo mundi a Deo conditum. Pon-1
tificia majestas, sacerdotium consecrans, aeterna est. ,
f Pater, a quo omnia, etj.d_qu.ejn_ omnia; et templum et sacer-
Deus< dotium et sacrificium. ^ (r. v -w''.^
LFilius, aeternus et coeequalis Patri ; Primus pontifex et ordo ipse.
, , .._ . ~) In propaganda justitia
Angeli, sacerdotes pontificis. ¦ j
r~ s ' . ^ , -n, ¦ m mundo verum sacer-
Mundus universus, templum Dei. >, .,„  „ „ , „ffi
.„ . , . i • vi- ' dotale munus est om-
Sacrfficium in mundo, simplex veraque justiua. i .

42 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE.

III.
Sunt praeterea in spiritalibus naturis reliqua sacra
menta omnia, sed modo spiritali et angelico ; Matri-
monium, Poenitentia, Baptismus, Confirmatio, Eucha-
ristia, Extrema Unctio. Nam, tanquam uxorJDei,
adhaerent Deo divini illi spiritus, et fecundantur ab
ipso, et, fecundati divino semine, divinam similitudi-
nem propagant. Item uxores in Deo viri sunt,
aliosque tanquam feminas sibi asciscunt, et quodam
sancto coitu impregnant. Sic a primo viro et marito
fmaritaceo procedit quae est inferioris partis attractio
sursum1 a superiore, et amplexu astrictio, ut fecun-
detur in eo, et pro capacitate plena sit divin^onitate
et justitia, quae tota est derivata a Deo, quae viros
jfacit, ut hi feminas faciant viragines; atque ut sic
vicissitudinario matrimonio jujjtfficetur mundus Jn
\ justo Deo. Finis ejus veri matrimonii est fecundifcas
justitiae ; aut ex adhaesione,2 quae ipsa est justitia, aut
illis quae ab ipso justificantur. Verus vir et maritus
est primus ille pontifex, in quo est omnis maritatio
in fecunditatem omnium, ut sterilia quaeque in se,
subjecta vel Deo vel subjectis Deo, alicujus justitiae
fructus fiant feracia atque tenera, spiritali mente ex-
1 So Dionysius describes the Order which is in the second, or
! middle, stage of illuminatio, as " communione sacrS omni cum volup-
tate acquiescentem, et ad divinum ipsorum scientiffi amorem, subnixum
j eorum subvehentibus virtutibus, pro modo suo evolantem." — Cosiest.
I Hier. c. vi.
The Greek word is still more literally rendered in the Latin version \
appended to the Venice Edition of 1755 : — " Per anagogicas virtutes." !
2 Some pronoun, perhaps ei, seems to have been missed here. So
et seems wanting before spiritali mente ex., just below.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESMI. 43
aminentur. Idem est sacerdotium quod matrimo-
nium, et sa[crificatio idem] est quod prolificatio.
Quum enim in mundo grqlem justitiae fecisti, sacrifi-
casti Deo. Hujus matrimonii] leyj.s_et inanis umbra '
est id quod est maris et feminae in propagationem
carnis ; de cujus institutione, et quid velit, dicemus
postea prolixius. Nunc autem cursim et leviter, in
hoc magno mundi templo sub pontifice Deo quomodo
celebrantur reliqua sacramenta, volumus annotare;
ut a primis fontibus derivata oratio influat in id
melius quod intendimus. Habemus enim in pro-
posito loqui expressius de sacramentis ecclesiae nos-
trae, quibus quasi jurati Deo nostro in Jesu Christo
militamus.

IV.
PosNiTENTiA vero, quae longe rectiiis reconciliationis
sacramentum vocaretur, et reditus a deteriori ad~Ia <
quod melius est, quae semper est cum pcenitentia de
licti et confessione peccati et voluntate recompen-
sandi,1 ut confessio etiam et satisfactio possit vocari
aeque ac pcenitentia; illud, inquam, reconciliationis
sacramentum, quod posteriori ecclesiae placuit poeni-
tentiam appellare, in alienatis et lapsis assidue a
sacerdotali mundi parte agitur, qui spiritus sunt, qui
ordines illi ? relevant, et quodque ad suum statum re-
1 " In perfectiorie autem poanitentiae tria observanda sunt, scilicet,
compunctio cordis, confessio oris, satisfactio operis .... Haec est
fructifera pcenitentia ; ut, sicut tribus_modis deum offendimus, scilicet,
corde, ore, et opere, ita tribus modis satisfaciamus." — Petri Lombardi
Sententics (1575), lib. ivTT^isUncT. xvi.~" I
2 Ordines illi.] So in MS. The sense appears obscure ; unless illi
may signify " to Him," i. e. " God."

44 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
stituunt, ut in ordinatis a Deo, qui ipse est Ordo,
suum ordinem teneant. Ex infirmitate rerum trans-
gressiones et casus sunt frequentes in mundi parte
inferiore et corporali. Qu6d si a superiori et spiritali
parte revocata non sustinerentur, defluxus rerum
suapte impotentia in malum et deforme evaderet in
nihilum. In hoc ergo magni mundi templo, pars ilia
purgata, illuminata, confirmata, perfecta, pars vide
licet ilia a Deo sibi consecrata et sacerdotalis, pars
spiritalis et angelica, sacerdotale munus exercet quasi
sacramentali ratione, atque corpoream partem infir-
mam et impuram purgat et stabilit, quoad fieri possit,
in esse spiritali, ut pro captu illuminetur et perfi-
ciatur in Deo ; ut a divisione ad unum, a deformitate
ad pulchritudinem, a defectu ad perfectionem con-
tracta, omnia Deum in se referant; ut Deus, qui
debet, extet omnia in omnibus. In hoc munus et
ofiicium sacerdotis est; in hoc sacrificatio grata Deo
est. Quoniam in hoc est coactio et cooperatio in
Deo, qui unum in se, pulchrum, et bonum mundum
velit esse; et res omnes a malitia, tenebris et morte
vindicare; ut tandem absorpta morte vivant in Deo
omnia, luculenta ordine et perfecta. In quo labore,
per angelos, qui student consecrare mundum Deo,
est expurgatio et reconciliatio rerum, et baptismalis
illuminatio, et confirmatio in lumine, et denique sua
cujusque, quatenus potest capere,1 bonitate impletio
et perfectio. Nihil enim aliud. vult omne sacerdotale

1 " Quemadmodum enim ipse sol, diversis rebus subditis apparens,
alterum altero plus calefacit; idquo non ob solis, sed eorum qu«
solem oxcipiunt, diversitatein ; sic utique divinum donum cum sit per-
fectum, pro suscipientium capacitate, vel remittitur vel intenditur." —
Pachymerse Paraphrasis in Cosiest. Hicr. c. i.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLiE. 45
munus, nisi diversorum purgationem . in unitatem, et
tenebricosorum illuminationem in claritatem, et pos-
tremo deficientium impletionem in perfectionem ; quae
in spiritalibus naturis fiunt simpliciter et aperte, sine
consignatione sacramenti, sensibuis. In naturis par
tim spiritalibus partim corporeis, cujusmodi sunt
homines, eadem fiunt, sed adhibitis etiam symbolis
et consignaculis sensibilibus ; ut corpus in eis habeat
etiam quod agat puritatem, lumen et bonitatem
ipsius. In naturis vero quae non sunt perditae, spiri-
tibus aeternis in ipsis, pura, pulchra et bona conditio
eorum1 sine ulteriore significatione est earum tem
poralis felicitas. Etenim tria sunt genera rerum,
sub ipsa rerum omnium causa Deo ; spiritalia penitus 1
sine corporibus temporalibus, et corporea prorsus i
sine aeternis spiritibus, et inter haec media ex tern- ;
poralibus corporibus et aeternis spiritibus constantia. |
In illis primis sacramentum est quodque res ipsa '
sacramenti; in secundis res ipsa sacramentum;2 in
mediis his, qui sunt homines, et res est ipsa aliqua-i
tenus, et sacramentum quoddam, medium scilicet ex ]
spiritali et corporeo compositum, mediae naturae ad-;
modum congruum. Haec sunt sacramenta inumanae1
1 Eorum.] Attracted to the gender of spiritibus.
2 " Hie dicendum est, aliquos suscipere sacramentum et rem sacra- '
menti; aliquos sacramentum et non rem; aliquos rem et non sacra
mentum." — Petri Lombardi Sentmtice, iv. 4. Though his threefold
division comprises only three classes of human beings, the passage will
in some measure illustrate what Colet says. As an example of those
who receive both the sign and the thing signified {sacramentum et
rem), he instances infants at their baptism ; of those who receive the
sign but not the reality, unbelievers at the eucharist ; of those who
receive the reality but not the sign, martyrs for Christianity, whose \
shedding of blood would be a baptism, though they had never been i
baptized before.

46 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
societatis in Christo, ad quae aliquando nostra per-
veniat oratio.

». fe f Supra hominem.— Res sacramenti — Invisibiles veritates.— .ffiternitas.
< 2 i
S. a J ("Spiritali.
" " ^Homines ex] Res sacramentata.— Invisibile et sternum
a $ j — | [factum quodammodo sensibile et temporale.
a § -I I Corporeo.
£2. o 1
Is 5" LSub hominem.— Sacramentum rei.— Sensibilia signacula.— Tempua.

V.
Ex superiore itaque sermone constat, sub pontifice
templi (id est, totius mundi), Dei Filio, esse naturas
spiritales, purgatas in esse simplex et stabile in Deo,
et illustratas onmifaria, sapientia et impletas omni
/bonitate; quae purgant, illuminant et'perficiunt pur-
t ganda, illuminanda et perficienda in Deo. In qua,
purgatione, quae reconciliatio est, multiplex esinhT-
nisterium. Unde in eo versati a Dionysio Mjnistri1
vocantur. In quibus potes cogitare in magno mundo,
!sed longe meliori nota quam in nobis nostraque
ecclesia, Hostiarios, Lectores, Exorcistas, Acolitos,
Hypodiaconos.2 Diaconos mihi videtur Dionysius

1 Ministri.] The leitourgoi of Dionysius; who uses hiereus and
hierarches for the two higher orders of Sacerdos and Pontifex. — Eccl.
Hier. c. vi. Theoria, § 5.
2 Colet names them in an ascending order of dignity, from Ostiarii,
or door-keepers, up to Hypodiaconi, or sub-deacons. With respect to
the authority for these orders, Bingham writes: — "The two great
oracles of the Romish Church, Baronius and the Council of Trent, are
very dogmatical and positive in their assertions both about their rise
and number; that they are precisely five, viz. Sub-deacons, Acoly-
thists, Exorcists, Readers, and Door-keepers ; and that they are all of

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE. 47
vocare sacerdotes : et quos nos vocamus sacerdotes et
presbiteros, ille pontificeset praesules appellat ; quorum
est dominicum corpus conficere, et illuminatos com-
plere mysteriis ; sacerdotum dyaconorumque, illumi-
nare purgatos; ministrorum primum expurgare; in
quibus, ut dixi, hostiarii sunt, qui stant pro foribus
templi Dei, excludentes multiplices,1 simplices si-
nentes intrare ; item lectores Psalmorum et scripturae
sacrae : hi in spiritalibus sunt, qui tacite indicant sine
verbo veritatem Dei: exorcistae, qui energuminos
obsessosque a malignis spiritibus solvunt et liberant,
quod faciunt angelici spiritus adjurationibus nobis
incognitis : acoliti, qui ignem et aquam templo ammi-
nistrant, quod est factum in mundi templo a cceles-
tibus acolitis longe alio et veriori modo : hypodiaconi
in sacrario et Dei sanctuario sollicite inserviunt, quod
in sanctuario et choro templi mundi fit ineffabiliter.
Aquji autem et igne-iavantur purganturque omnia.-
Coelestis ignis et^jiqua est amor, et gratia Spiritus
sancti. Supra hos purgatorios ordines, in mundi"
sacerdotio, potest cogitare, qui se habent illic ut apud
nos nostri sacerdotes (ut vocat Dionysius; ut nos
appellamus, Diaconi), quorum est purgatos illustrare,
ut saltern imagines divinae veritatis videant, eisdemque

Apostolical institution." .... But he goes on to show that even i
Peter Lombard declared that " the primitive Church had no orders be
low those of Presbyters and Deacons." — Antiquities (1710), vol. ii.
P. 2.
1 Multiplices.] See the note below, p. 80, on Psalm iv. 10 ; and
compare Eccl. Hier. c, iii. § 2. " Post hasc, extra delubrum catechu-
meni fiunt, et cum ipsis energumeni, et ii quoque qui in pcenitentia
sunt. Manent autem intus soli qui divina spectare merentur atque
percipere."

48 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESL33.
injiciantur. Hi in ccelesti hierarchia sun£potentes et
dominantes virtutes^) quae in media illic hierarchy
/locantur ; a quibus est in mundo uluminatio, sicut ab
linfima' purgatio. Supra hos cogita summum ponti-
ficalem ordinem, sub pontificum pontifice Deo; a
quibus sub Deo cuique est perfectionis ministratio.
Illi sunt in mundo perfectione complentes omnia,
jjsicut nostri apud nos.debent esse pontifices. Nihil
| (est his excellentius praeter ipsum Deum! In his con-
summatus est numerus ecclesiasticorum ordinum;
qui sunt exemplariter in mundi sacerdotio in illis
choris angelicis, imaginarie in humana hierarchia.
/Apud Moysen eadem erant omnia umbrositer, praeter
[haec quae sunt et nominantur episcopi, archiepiscopi,
[primates, bfficia, et administrationes. Atque hi quos
modo diximus ordines famulatus sunt potius quam
ordines. Sed de his apud nos jam statim plura diffu-
sius dicemus. Hoc ante omnia teneamus in memoria,
jid exemplar Dei omnia esse; quse referant angeli
^ verius, ecclesia nostra imaginarie, ecclesia legalis um-
brosfe: omnia pr[ius] esse in ccelo quam in terra: in.:
terra quae fiunt, ab imperfecto ad perfectum profi-
cisci. Non potuit enim imagoJDei_depingi in terra,
in hominibus, nisi, prius g.dumbraretur^1 (In media
mundi tabula et hominum quasi carbone infuscavit

1 Adumbraretur.] " Deus, qui dixit de tenebris lucem splendescere,
ipse illuxit in cordibus nostris, ad illuininationem scientias claritatis in
fecie Jesu Chsis-ti ; ut veriorem jljius vultum fide cernamus : qui reve-
lavit quas de se et ecclesiaCaepinxit.Moyses  An Christo enim
sunt omnia^cumulate) quae vel docere in justitia, vel in religione insti-
tuereMoysesillevoluit. Quae fuere prius adumbranda, turn deinde
suo tempore illustranda; ut aliquando; inlnne sec'uB perficiantur omnia "
—Colet in Ccsl. Hier. (School MS, fol. 4, b).

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE. 40
atrum quiddam Moyses; depinxit clarius in toto !
mundo noster Jesus. Primaria idea et exemplar
omnium in ccelis est; in quam veritatem ietur1 ali-
quando, ut opus a Deo coeptum in terris perficiatur.
Quod ut est promotum a Moysaica umbra (ad Chris-
tianam imaginem in terris,jita ab hac imagine(ad Chris-
tianam veritatem in ccelis) suo tempore promo vebitur.
Est enim suum cujusque tempus. Temporis momenta"
solus Deus novit. Qui novit tempora adumbrandi
et depingendi, idem novit etiam verificandi. Ordo
autem, Matrimonium, Reconciliatio, Baptismus, Con-
firmatio, Synaxis,2 Extrema Unctio, — et etiam ut
haec fiant purgatione, illuminatione et perfectione,
in illis quoque ordinibus primis sunt Hostiarii, Lec-
tores, Exorcistae, Acoliti, Hypodiaconi, Diaconi, Pres-
biteri, tanquam in magno hujus mundi templo, in
ccelis. Sed illic, modo ccelesti et vere omnia; hjic in l
nobis, qui ad illud exemplar componimur, imaginarie.
Quorum imaginum nomina sunt quae modo diximus,
et nostrae ecclesiae sacramenta significantia. De
f quibus nunc, uti in principio statuimus, liberius vesti-
gantes magis aliquid quam diflinientes, diss[eremus]. /

1 Ietur.] Leg. ibitur. So below, p. 64, for pr'ceteribit the MS. has
prceteriet. 2 Synaxis.] This is a common term for the Eucharist. Hammond,
in his Parcenesis, has a section " On the frequency of Synaxes." Dio
nysius says that tqjtthe term communioj which properly belongs to_all,
tho Sacraments, is specially applied. "Ac ^riirium quidem illud pie
inspicieridum, cujus rei gratia, quod aliis quoque venerandis diviuisque
mysteriis commune vocabulum est, huic prae cseteris prascipue ac pecu-
liariter applicetur ; ut singulariter communio, sive societas et Synaxis,
sive collectio dicatur."— .EccZ. Hier. c. iii. p. i.

50

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIA.

VI.
Divino erant in mundo angeli scientes, et sponte de-
sciscebant a Deo. Hie malum ccepit in creatura pec-
f catum; scilicet, inobedientia, superbia, transgressio.J
Superbi[entis] 1 a Deo est humiliari, decidique in
malum. Sua spohte longe abiit a Deo, qui erat
conjunctissimus, Lucifer ille factuosus, secum con-
r trahens in suas partes magnam angelorum catervam ;
quorum culpa invenialis, et discessus irrevocabilis est,
quod scienter et sponte commissus erat. Sciens enim
\ spontaneumque peccatum non habet veniam. Est id
s. Matt. xii. 32| "contra Spiritum sanctum, quod non remittetur, neque
[ inhoc saeculo, neque in futuro." Hie voluntaria n[ocen-
tia] in mundo et nequitia est malum et stultitiam et di-
visionem mortemque machinans assidue : hie maximse
invidiae homini, cujus gloriam vidit fore. Hinc hie
author et propagator mali, quern Moyses " serpentem
callidiorem vocat cunctis animantibus terrae, quae
fecerit Dominus Deus," suasit mulieri falso promisso,
ut de illecebroso fructu ligni, quod est in medio pa-
radisi, ederet; hoc scitura Dea bonum et malum.
Cui mulierculae assensus est vir, jam sciens mali,
auscultans malum, audiens sociam mulierem, quae
I audivit serpentem " maledictum inter omnia animan-
tia [et bestias] terrae, pronum, terram comedentem,
perpetuum inimicum mulieris et insidiosum." Hinc
humano generi vita aerumnosa, dura, difiicilis, plena
miseriae, extra paradisum, longe a ligno vitae. Homo

Gen. iii. 1.

Gen. iii. 14.

, 1 Superbientis.] See below, p. 53 : — '• Quae volens superbire de-
cidit a Deo." Hence decidi is probably a mistake for decidere.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE. 51
quia seductus peccavit, quodammodo inscius et in- '
vitus peccavit. Unde non erat ei nihil loci miseri
cordiae, quum homing erat aHquid excusationis. In
serpentem seductorem rejectum peccatum est. Novit
Deus 0£timum tempus miserendi. Erat faciendum ^ !
ut, qui creavit homines, idem recrearet. Creatus
erat homo, ut esset conjunx divini Filn^sed sapien
tia Dei (de qua exclamat Paulus, "0 altitudo diviti-! Rom. xi. 33,34.
arum sapientiae et scientiae Dei : quam incomprehen-i
sibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus.(
Quis cognovit sensum Domini?") ilia sapientia, ut
tanta misericordia adhuc major agnosceretur, sinit
hominem delabi; ut non solum creatum ex nihilo,
sed etiam recreatum ex malo, ducat uxorem; "ut
universa creatura tantam ereatoris benignitatem ob-
stupescat et revereatur. Greavit et recreavit sibi
suam conjugem humanam Deus : quae bonitatis di-
vitiae sunt tantae, ut verba defecerint Paulum, quibus
digne rem tantam expromeret ; sed ' divitias et opes *)Ro™-.Ji- 4-
misericordiae' appellat. Si ante casum assumpsisseH
sibi in uxorem hominem, et propagatio mali, et po-
tentia Dei in malo discutiendo, et in mundo maxima
Dei sapientia et misericordia non apparuisset. Trans-
gressiones et mala declarant aequitatem et bonitatem
Dei (ut idem sentit Paulus : " Veritas Dei in men- Rom. m. 7.
dacio abundat ") : iniquitas justitiam Dei commendat,
in gloriam ipsius. Materia gratiae Dei malum est;
ut morbus materia artis medicinae, in gloriam medici.
Antequam illud tantum miraculum assumptae humanae
naturae in creatura mundi ostentaretur, sivit et per-
misit hominem cadere in nihilum, ut ex tanta humi-
litate in sublimatione hominis ingentius beneficium
et Deo dignius manifestissime cognosceretur. Prae-

52 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIJE.
destinatum erat ut homo creatus decideret, seductus
ab illo qui decidit non seductus; ut in recreatione
rerum in creaturis Dei potentia etiam non minor
quam in creatione appareret; misericordia autem
multo major quam in creatione, quum multo majus est
ex misericordia revocare a malo quam ex misericordia
creare a nihilo. Nam quod non est, ut non creetur,
non est causa; quod autem malum est, ut non re-
creetur, causa est. Magis obstat Deo malum in
recreatione, quam non esse in creatione : ut multo
majoris potentiae esset recreare mundum a malo,
quam creare ex nihilo. In creatione pura potentia;
in recreatione pura misericordia; in utraque summa
sapientia erat ; per quam Deus et potenter creavit, et
misericorditer recreavit : ut in mundo tandem simul
cum potentia timenda, inestimabilis misericordia
ejusdem amanda sapientissime effulgeret (ut iterum
atque iterum inculcat Paulus) in laudem gloriae gra-
tiae suae. Ex tanta ergo humilitate in creaturis
voluit sibi conjugem accipere altissimus Deus, et in-
fimam naturam rationalem, earn quoque in irratio-
nalitatem delapsam ; ut suprema ilia natura rationalis,
quae invidia decidit, magis in suam miseriam invidia
ardeat. Est enim poena perditis gloria salvatorum;1
et in his quanto major est misericordia, tanto illis
justitia major est altiorque vindicta. Ut liceat
cernere, quam ineffabili modo est Deus simul Justus
et misericors ; et simul, quanto magis misericors, eo
magis Justus ; ut in misericordia ejus videatur nasci
justitia, et esse eadem in Deo misericordia et justitia

1 Salvatorum.] " Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicta." Pers.
Sat. iii. 38.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE. 53
in una infinita sapientia. Longa erat declaratio im-
becillitatis humanae impotentiaeque resurgendi per se,
antequam earn relevavit Deus, ut deserta multo ex-
perimento et suam imbecillitatem confiteretur, et
divinam misericordiam agnosceret ; utque quae volens
superbire decidit a Deo, discat humilitate resurgere
et referre omnia Deo. Sine lege delira erat; sub
lege deliratior : opportuno tempore in extremo peri-
culo succurrit divina misericordia, et pauperculam
naturam hominis, obsitam et squalidam, quasi manu
[et]1 capite apprehensam ad se traxit; exuit foedam
et tabificam vestem; discussit pulverem; extersit
sordes ; purgatam induit nitidam et salutarem vestem
nuptialem. Idem pontifex et maritus consecravit
nuptias; ut, qui angelorum pontifex est, idem sit
pontifex hominum, idemque restauret ecclesias qui
construxit. In creato homine tantarum nuptiarum
sacramentum voluit antecedere etiam ante peccatum,
ut sanctius sacramentum esset : ut mirabiliter creatus
homo ex nihilo recreati hominis ex malo sit sacra
mentum. Adas primo homini in creatione adjecit
mulierem ad carnem propagandam ; ut ex hoc primo
homini in recreatione intelligatur electa femina ex
latere2 ejus recreata, redemptione effusi sanguinis,
in spiritum propagandum ; cui dicatur, " Crescite Gen. i. 28.
et multiplicamini " spiritali prole, " et replete ter-

1 Et] In the MS. merely the letter "1." — manu apprehensam
alone seems, all that is required ; unless we should read manu
capiente. 3 Ex latere.] " Nee sine causa et ipsa conjux de latere facta est.
Viro dormiente, Eva facta est. Moriente Christo, Ecclesia facta est.
Et ilia de latere viri, cum costa detracta est : et ista de latere viri,
quando latus lancea percussum est, et sacramenta profluxerunt." —
S. Augustinus : Enarratio in Psalmum exxvii. 11.

54 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE.
ram, et subjicite earn, et dominamini piscibus ma
ris et volatilibus coeli, et universis quae moventur
super terrain." In paradiso creata femina virago
erat recreata in terra, ecclesiae umbra, de qua vatici-
Gen. ii. 2-i. natus est Adam, primus propheta, dicens quod " re-
linquet homo patrem suum et matrem, et adhaerebit
uxori suae; et erunt duo" in spiritu uno. Nam
caro Adam significat spiritum Christi. Hoc est sa
cramentum quod dicit Paulus in epistola, ad Ephesios,
et prae magnitudine (ut Jeronimus scribit)1 non ex-
Eph. v. 32. plicat ; sed uno fere verbo dicit quod est " sacramen
tum in Christo et ecclesia;" malens tantum myste-
rium tacere, quam de eo loqui diminutius. Idcirco
Eph. v. 25. admonet Ephesios ut " uxores diligant, sicut Christus
ecclesiam," in sanctificationem earum, et fecunda-
tionem in spiritu, non in carne. Nam quatenus in
conjugio res carnis sit, tanto Veritas spiritus minuitur.
Et in paradiso erat maris et feminae connubium sine
carnali copula, spiritalis coitus sacramentum. Adam
autem, primus homo creatus, et parens carnalis pro-
geniei, umbra erat secundi hominis recreati, et pa
rentis prolis spiritalis ad numerum stellarum. Erat
primus Adam minister Dei in propagatione carnis ad
mortem; secundus Adam minister Dei in propaga-
* " Gregorius Nazianzenus, vir valde eloquens, et in Scripturis ap-
prime erudites, cum de hoc mecum tractaret loco, solebat dicere : vide
quantum istius capituli sacramentum sit, ut Apostolus in Christo illud
et in Ecolesia interpretans, non se ita asserat, ut testimonii postulabat
dignitas, expressisse; sed quodammodo dixerit: Scio quia locus iste
ineffabilibus plenus sit sacramentis, et divinum cor quadrat interpretis.
Ego autem, pro pusillitate sensus mei, in Christo interim illud et in
ecclesia intelligendum puto : non quo aliquid Christo et ecclesia majus
sit ; sed quod totum quod de Adam et de Eva dicitur, in Christo et in
occlesia interpretari posse difficile sit." — S. Eusebii Hieronymi Com-
mentarius in he. (Migne, 1845).

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 55
tione spiritus ad vitam. Primum Adam vocat Paulus
in epistola ad Romanos " formam futuri;" cujus gra- Rom. v. 14.
tia in plures abundavit ex multis delictis in justifica-
tionem, ut justi conregnent in vita per unum, Jesum
Christum, per cujus obedientiam homines justifican-
tur. Is erat parens et propagator spiritus ad vitam
in terris, sicut primus Adam progenitor carnis ad
mortem. Quocirca scribit Paulus ad Corinthios :
" Sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo 1 Cur. xv. 22,
omnes vivificantur. Factus est pr[imus] homo Adam
in animam viventem, novissimus Adam in spiritum
vivificantem. Primus homo de terra terrenus; se
cundus homo de ccelo ccelestis." In Christo ergo
non est , prolificatio nisi ccelestis et spiritus. Jam
(ait Paulus alibi) " neminem cognovimus secundum 2 Cor. v. 16.
carnem." Nee carnalis in Christo debet esse ulla
propagatio, sed tota ccelestis, ut " portemus imaginem 1 Cor.xv. 49.
ccelestis," et ccelestis parentis nostri similes simus,
qui fecundat suam ecclesiam, injecto in earn divino
semine, ut copiosam pariat prolem justitiae ad regnum
Dei. Qui creavit Adam, ut esset imago sui, voluit
ipse quodammodo recreari; ut (sicut ad Colocenses
scriptum est) " qui est primogenitus omnis creaturae," Col. i. 15.
idem sit " principium, primogenitus ex mortuis," ec- Col. i. is.
clesiae caput ; ut sit in omnibus ipse primatum tenens,
et creatis et recreatis, et plenis et deficientibus ; qui
defecit ipse maxime, ut esset etiam in recreatione et
reconciliatione primas, sicuti in creatione et pleni-
Tfcudine et perfectione rex erat primas et primogenitus
omnis creaturae. " Quoniam in ipso condita sunt Col. i. 16.
universa perfecta in ccelis et in terra, visibilia et in-
visibilia, sive throni, sive dominationes, sive princi-
patus, sive potestates ; omnia per ipsum et in ipso

56 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
creata sunt" mirifice et omnipotenter : deficiente
ipso Creatore quodammodo ut creatura reficiatur ;l ut
primogenitus creaturae sit idem primoregenitus re-
creaturae, in recreata scilicet humana natura quae de-
fecit ; ad quam etiam defecit Dei Films ipse et factus
est filius hominis, ut refecta natura humana fiat filia
Dei et sponsa Filii aeterna. Ut decidit homo in
carnem, ita fuit necesse ut exemeretur ex carne com-
prehensione spiritus, fiatque ex carne spiritalis ; carne,
quse regnavit, a spiritu victa; ut spiritus existens
homo idoneus esset ut spiritali connubio cum Deo
ipso conjungeretur; cum quo nequaquam conjungi
potest nisi sit summe spiritalis. Proportione enim
aliqua oportet sint quae copulentur. Caro enim longe
distat a Deo, ut carnalem hominem cum Deo conjungi
sit impossibile. Hinc Paulus et reliqui apostoli sua-
dent et imperant, quoad maxime possunt, mortifica-
tionem carnis et revivificationem in spiritu; semper
hoc docentes plane, nisi homines fiant spiritus, eos
Deo, ut unus fiat spiritus, adhaerere non posse.
Rom. vi. 4. " Commortuos et consepultos" dicit Paulos nos esse
ib. v. 6. in Christo, in epistola, ad Romanos. " Vetus homo
noster simul crucifixus est, ut destruatur corpus pec-
cati, ut ultra non serviamus peccato." Est paulo
ib. vii. 24. post, "Quis me liberabit a corpore mortis hujus?"

1 Reficiatur.] " How, will some say, can this be? After this
manner. The comparison is taken from our first parents. Eve was
made of a ribbe taken out of Adams side, he being cast into a slumber :
this being done, Adam awaked and saide, TJiis is now bone of my bone,
and flesh of my flesh. Christ was nayled on the crosse, and his most
pretious blood was shedde, and out of it arise and spring all true
Christians ; that is, out of the merit of Christ's death and passion,
whereby they become newe creatures." — Perkins, Exposition of the
Creech (1597), p. 687.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 57
Item, " Sapientia carnis inimica est Deo;" et, " Pru- Rom viii. 7, 6.
dentia carnis, mors." " Qui in carne sunt, Deo pla-
cere non possunt." " Si Christus in vobis est, corpus lb. w. 10, 13.
quidem mortuum est propter peccatum, spiritus vivit
propter justificationem. Si spiritu facta carnis mor-
tificaveritis, vivetis." Et adhuc postea: "Obsecro lb. xii. 1,2.
vos, fratres, per misericordiam Dei, ut exhibeatis
corpora vestra hostiam viventem, sanctam, Deo pla-
centem, rationabile obsequium. Et nolite conformari
huic saeculo, sed reformamini in novitate" spiritus et
" sensus vestri; ut probetis quae sit voluntas Dei
bona et beneplacens et perfecta." Ad Corinthios: iC0r.ii.14, 15.
" Animalis homo non sapit ea quae Dei sunt ; stultitia
enim est illi, et non potest intelligere, quia spiritaliter
examinatur. Spiritalis autem judicat omnia." Quern
dicit animalem hominem, eundem mox postea " car- ib. iii. s.
nalem" dicit, et " secundum carnem ambulare." Et
in II ad Corinthios: " Semper nos, qui vivimus, in 2Cor. iv. 11.
mortem tradimur propter Jesum; ut vita Jesu ma-
nifestetur in carne nostra mortali;" et in eodem loco :
" Semper mortificationem Jesu Christi in corpore ib. iv 10.
circumferentes, ut et vita Jesu manifestetur in corpo
ribus nostris." Item, "Unus pro omnibus mortuus 2Cor.v. 14,17.
est Christus ; " et in Christo " omnes mortui sunt ; ut,
qui vivunt, jam non sibi vivant, sed ei qui pro eis
mortuus est et resurrexit. Itaque nos ex hoc nemi-
nem novimus secundum carnem. Si qua ergo in
Christo nova creatura, vetera transierunt; ecce nova
facta sunt omnia." Et illud: "Libenter gloriabor 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.
in infirmitatibus meis, ut inhabitet in me virtus
Christi. Quum infirmor, tunc fortior sum." Ad
Galathas : " Si hominibus placerem, Christi servus Gai. i. 10.
non essem." Item, "Ego per legem legi mortuus Gai. ii. 19, 20.

58 ' DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE.
sum, ut Deo vivam : Christo crucifixus sum cruci.
Vivo jam non ego; vivit vero in me Christus." Et
Gal.v. 16, 17. illud: "Spiritu ambulate, et desideria carnis non
perficietis. Caro enim concupiscit adversus spiritum ;
spiritus adversus carnem: haec enim sibi invicem
lb. w. 24, 25. adversantur." Et paulo post: "Qui autem sunt
Christi, carnem suam crucifixerunt cum vitiis et con-
cupiscentiis. Si vivimus spiritu, spiritu ambulemus."
Gai. vi. 14,15. Et post haec : " Mihi absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Do
mini nostri Jesu Christi; per quern mihi mundus
crucifixus est, et ego mundo." In quo " nihil valet
nisi nova creatura." Et ad Ephesios scribens, Deum
Eph. i. 3. patrem appellat, " qui benedixit nos in omni benedic-
Eph. iv. 22-24, tione spiritali in coelestibus." Et illud : " Deponite
vos secundum pristinam conversationem veterem ho
minem, qui corrumpitur secundum desideria erroris,
et renovamini spiritu mentis vestrae; et induite
novum hominem, qui secundum Deum creatus est in
justitia et sanctitate veritatis. Et nolite contristare
Eph. v. is. Spiritum." Et, " Implemini Spiritu sancto." "Est
4> . vi. 12, n. jjQ-^g colluctatio adversus spiritalia nequitiae in coeles
tibus," quae vincenda sunt " armatura Dei." Et ad
Phil. i. 21. Philippenses : " Mihi vivere Christus est, et mori lu-
Phu. iii. 10-14. crum." Et illud : "Configuratusmorti ejus; si quando
ad resurrectionem occurram quae est ex mortuis ; si
quomodo comprehendam in quo et comprehensus
sum a Christo Jesu. Quae quidem retro sunt obli-
viscens, ad ea quae priora sunt extendens me ipsum,
ad destinatum prosequor bravium supernae vocationis
Col. i. 24. in Christo Jesu." Ad Collocenses: "Nunc gaudeo
in passionibus pro vobis, ut impleam ea quae desunt
Col. iii. 5. pa,ssionum Christi in carne mea." Item: " Mortifi-
cate membra vestra quae sunt supra terrain." Depo-

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE. 59
nite et "exspoliate veterem hominem cum actibus Coi. iii. 9,10.
suis, et induite novum." Sed quorsum haec testi-
monia?" Nempe ut intelligamus, si Deo, qui spiritus
est, conjungi et copulari voluerimus, nos necessario
mortificata carne spiritales omnino esse oportere, et
penitus novos in Christo, ad formam illius hominis in
Christo viventes, qui exemplum dedit ut sequamur
vestigia ejus ; qui ob id causae solum assumpsit homi
nem, ut spiritalem et divinam in homine vitam
ostendat hominibus, doceatque quam vestem nup-
tialem induat homo, si velit a Deo in uxorem duci.
Non locatur matrimonio Deo nisi virgo rejuvenescens
spiritu, "sine ruga, sine macula, aut aliquid ejusmodi, Eph. v. 27.
tota sancta et immaculata," casta cum sancto, spiritalis
et divina cum spiritu et Deo. Cujusmodi puellam
Dominus, quando " de coelo prospexit, ut videret si Ps. xiii. 2, 3.
esset intelligens aut requirens Deum," sibi in terris
nOn invenit; quoniam "omnes declinaverunt, simul
inutiles facti sunt: non erat qui fecit bonum, non
erat usque ad unum." Fuit igitur necesse sane, ut ^
Deus, creator omnium, quum voluit in terris (miseri
cordia quanta excogitari potest a nemine) uxorem
ducere, et hominem arctissima copula sibi astring[ere],
earn crearet. Creavit primum hominem in utero
matris Virginis Mariae ; quern secundum Adam con-
junxit sibi, sanctum penitus et sine labe peccati,
cujusmodi erat primus Adam antequam cecidit. In
illo Dei Filius apparuit hominibus ; ut omnes volentes
credere crearet1 ejusmodi, adscisceretque multos, ex
peccatoribus factos justos, in societate Filii sui, in
1 Crearet.] If Dei Filius be right, the subject of this verb is
changed to Deus ; as shown by Filii sui below.

60 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIA.
sanctam sibi conjugem, quae vocatur ecclesia; quam
2 Cor. v. 17. Paulus saepe vocat "in Christo novam creaturam;"
ut sacrosanctis nuptiis et divino coitu homo cum Deo
(femina homo) in amplexu tanti viri et Dei summe
perficiatur, et quae erat sterilis plene fecundetur in
illo misericordi concubitu Dei Filii; ut, quasi semine
concepto, pariat copiosum fructum in se sanctitatis et
justitiae, quae sunt bona opera, quae saepe Paulus vocat
fructus in vitam aeternam. Ad Galathas scribit:
Gal. v. 22, 23. " Fructus autem spiritus est charitas, gaudium, pax,
patientia, longanimitas, bonitas, benignitas, mansue-
tudo, fides, modestia, continentia, castitas." Hae
virtutes sunt quasi soboles Filii Dei et ecclesiae : opera
justitiae quasi filii sunt Dei et suae conjugis ecclesiae.
Homines vocantur in ecclesiam in partem uxoris Dei,
ut divino semine impregnentur, et, quum antea
friguerint, jam caleant, et ex charitate pariant spisse
bona opera, et justitiam, quae proles est aeterna Dei et
ecclesiae.
* ("Dei Filii seterni j
,- Dei filii ', , Christus maritus ¦, Pro]es justi.
Deus Pater' ^ Hominis temporalis filise^ Uiaebonorum-

¦ I , iioinims lenjpui ;uis iilki' -, .
^Dese filiies , Ecclesia uxor Dei
LHominum confiliarum J

que operum.

Homines, confratres vel consorores filiae Dei Patris,
una conjux est Filii Dei : homini in Christo conso
rores sumus, Deitati in Christo conjuges. Illi etam
Deitati quasi sorores; quibus nupsit aeternus Dei
Filius, ut ecclesia sit ei in communi Patris domo et
soror et conjux;1 soror creata a Deo Patre ut earn
uxorem ducat Filius, earn fecundans justitia in aeter-

1 Et soror et conjux.] Thus was fulfilled and spiritualized the legend
of the ancients concerning the children of Saturn. See the passages
quoted at § ii. of Fulgcntius's Mythologies (1681), p. 36.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 61
nitatem. Itaque ecclesia homini in Christo consoror
est : Deo Filio in Christo et soror et conjux : Deo
Patri filia virago. Sed filia Dei virilior est viris filiis
hominum. Deus Pater genuit sibi aeterna generatione
coaeternum Filium : genuit quidem in se, et ex se
ipso, et quasi coit in se ipso, ut Filium progignat in
se ipso ; ut illo ineffabili modo esset simul [Pater] et
Mater. Genitus autem Filius ille aeternus, Dei Patris
virtus et sapientia, quum coeperit amare, non potuit
esse cui non tradatur uxor. Nam ex amore implere,
perficere, et in alio et cum alio propagare imaginem
et similitudinem suam,— tanta virtus abesse divinis
et divino Filio non potest. Hoc est matrimonium;
conjunctio maris et feminae : quae, si bona est, debet
esse prima in primo, ut a primo deinceps quae sunt
nominentur. Dei Filius ergo primus maritus est, a
quo omnis maritatio in coelo et in terra nominatur.
Est vir ipse, et ipsa masculinitas, feminae creaturae
perfectio. Quanquam illi destinata erat conjux,
tamen non statim ei data fuit. " Primogenitus omnis
creaturae," ut vocat Paulus in epistola ad Collocenses,
"In quocondita sunt universa in coelis et in terra, visi- Col. i. 15, 16.
bilia et invisibilia, sive throni, sive dominationes, sive
principatus, sive potestates; omnia per ipsum et in
ipso creata sunt :" — ille primogenitus creaturae et
imago invisibilis Dei, creaturam ad imaginem Dei
conditam, id est, hominem creatum, illico duxisset
uxorem, si puella haec lasciva in paradiso non violata
fuisset. Qua ob id causae repudiate, mansit viduus
vir ille Filius Dei, donee Pater genuerat sibi filiam
incorruptam, quam Filio suo nubendam tradat ; quam
quum voluit ex corrupta carne et adulterata ilia in
paradiso progignere, ut opus Dei ordine procedat,
magno opus erat praeparamento, magno etiam et

62 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
vario rerum successu. Ante omnia vero opus erat,
ut tanta res futura digno et congruo Sacramento
significaretur. Est semper intelligendum, sensibi-
lia et carnalia in hominibus intelligibilium et spiri-
tualium esse sacramenta.1 Quum provisum erat
Adam casurum, cui erat adjecta femina, ut ex eo
carnali fluat progenies, simul praedestinata erat ex
coelo virtus processura, quae comprehendens homi
nem serperet spiritificans in interitum carnis; quae
esset alia propago et secunda, cui prima ilia propago
ut umbra praecessit, et potentibus intelligere ut sa
cramentum. Voluit ergo Deus in corrupto homine
depingere earn veritatem, quae incorrupto homine
evenit suo tempore. Usus est corruptela mundi pro
materia significationis. Veritas significata ex coelo
tandem contrario cursu se influit in mundum, lapis
1 Pet. ii. 8. objectus fluctibus, " lapis offensionis et petra scan-
dali," ad quern delabens mundus se frangit, qui est
mundo omnino contrarius, et ccelestis fluvius, mun-
ps. xiv. 5. dano omnino objectus; "fluvius ille impetuosus, qui
laetificat civitatem Dei." Haec est restauratio mundi
per vim revelantem. Mundo bene creato et condito,
Gen. i. 31. (" Vidit Deus," inquit, " cuncta quae fecerat, et erant
valde bona") ruinae cceperunt esse, quas reparaturus
erat Deus per Filium suum, et reaedificaturus mun
dum, ac quasi novum mundum facturus ; ut nuptiae,
gloria, regnUm sit Filio suo, qui erat apud Patrem
Gon. ii. is. antiquus Adam. Sed " non est bonum hominem

1 Sacramenta.] Eccl. Hier. c. ii. p. iii. " Sunt enim (ut Libro de
Intelligibilibus et Sensibilibus aperte docuimus) visibilia sacramenta
intelligibilium imagines qusedam ; quibus ad ea recto itinere ducimur.
Porro intelligibilia visibilium sacramentorum initium sunt atque
scientia."

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 63
esse solum. Dixit ergo Dominus Deus, Faciamus ei
adjutorium simile sibi." Hinc Paulus vocat eccle-
siam coadjutorem Dei in propagatione justitiae : pro
les enim Filii Dei et ecclesiae conjugis justitia est.
Adam ille antiquus nominavit omnia proprio nomine ;
quo verbo erant creata omnia. At huic Filio Dei
non erat reperta uxor, quam impleret semine divino
in propagationem justitiae. " Adae non inveniebatur Gen. ii. 20.
adjutor similis ejus." Voluit Deus Adam in sopore
esse in humana carne, ex ejus latere viraginem
[sumpturus],1 propter quam relinquet Filius Dei
Patrem suum et Matrem, et adhaerebit uxori suae, et
erunt duo in spiritu uno. Sed ut serpens Evam, ita
serpens est qui seducit ecclesiam. Quapropter Paulus
ad Corinthios, " Timeo," inquit, " ne, sicut serpens 2 Cor. xi. 3.
feminam seduxit astutia, sua,, ita corrumpantur sensus
vestri, et excidant a simplicitate quae est in Christo ;"
qui assumpsit sibi ecclesiam in uxorem, ut non edat
de ligno scientiae boni et mali, sed adhaereat illi sim-
plici fide, a qua si cadat in ratiocinationem boni et
mali, turn cadit a fide et Christo. " Despondi vos 2 Cor. xi. 2.
uni viro" (Filio Dei), " virginem castam" (simplici
tate fidei) " exhibere Christo;" qui reliquit patrem
et matrem (id est, Deum qui ilium genuit ex seipso,
ut esset et Pater et Mater) ut adhaereret uxori suae
ecclesiae; quam, sanguine ex latere effuso et morte
Christi redemptam, Pater sibi adoptavit in filiam,
ut ei nubat Filius suus. Ad Romanos : " Vos mor- Rom. vii. 4.
tificati estis legi per corpus Christi, ut sitis alterius"
(id est, Filii Dei una cum homine assumpto illo)

1 Sumpturus.] " Haec vocabitur virago, quoniam de viro sumpta
est."— Gen. ii. 23.

64 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIJE.
" qui resurrexit a- mortuis," ut vos novi cum illo
homine, et conjux Christi, " fructificetis Deo." Hie
fructus justitiae est masculina virtus, et fihus Dei et
ecclesiae. Vos enim estis membra de membro, id
est, homines adhaerentes homini illi primo, ut una
cum illo sitis in uxore Dei, uniti et adhaerentes illi,
quam uxorem humanam vocat Paulus, facturam et
creaturam ex nequitia hujus mundi. Cujus rei et
matrimonii, conjunctionisque feminei hominis cum
masculino Deo, sacramentum dicit in epistola ad
Ephesios magnum illud sanxitum matrimonium Adae
et Evae fuisse, qui primi erant homines;1 et in illis
primum sacramentum et prima prophetia ; quod illud
et carnalia omnia in alio progressu spiritali, incepto
a Christo, perfici debent spiritaliter, in finitionem
s. Matth. v. is. eorum quae sunt carnis. " Iota," dixit ille secundus
Adam, " et apex unus non praeteribit de lege, donee
omnia fiant." Adam divinum Filium, Eva ecclesiam
significat : matrimonium inter Adam et Evam, matri
monium sanctum inter Dei Filium et ecclesiam, in
fecunditatem justitiae, quae proles est Dei et ecclesiae.
Propagatio ilia carnalis ad mortem; haec per Chris
tum propagatio justitiae ad vitam. Haec omnia sunt
signa et sacramenta novi mundi in Christo, ut nee
1 Compare the Paraphrase of Erasmus on Eph. v. ad f. " Subest
hie ineffabile quoddam et ingens arcanum, quomodo quod in Adam et
Eva sub typo gestum est, in Christo et in ecclesia mystice peragatur.
Hujus individuam copulam quisquis scrutabitur, intelliget magnum
subesse mysterium. Nam quemadmodum ipse cum Patre unum erat,
ita et suos omnes unum voluit esse secum. Quod arcanum licet re-
trusius sit quam ut in pra^sentia sit explicandum, tamen in hoc sat est
attulisse exemplum, ut suam quisque uxorem non secus diligat atque
se ipsum diligit ; memineritque, secum illam unum et idem esse, quem
admodum Christus adamavit ecclesiam suam, quam sibi intime ad-
junxit."

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE. 65
iota nee apex praetereat donee omnia fiant. Post-
quam ceciderit homo quam longissime a Deo in ni
hilum, in paranda Mc conjuge multum erat laboris
et negotii. Ut Dei opus ordine procederet, summa
et serenior pars humani erat reservata, et ea quoque
in humano genere ordine fluens, donee tandem [p]u-
rissima virgo, flos ex radice Jesse, fructificaverit
Jesum, masculum et feminam, in quo erat masculus
Deus et femineus homo. Id est quod Moyses ait :
" Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem Gen. i. 26, 27.
nostram; et praesit piscibus maris, et volatilibus
coeli, et bestiis, universae[que] terrae, omnique reptili
quod movetur in terra. Et creavit Deus hominem ad
imaginem suam ; ad imaginem Dei creavit ilium ; mas
culum et feminam creavit eos." Hie est Jesus, mascu-
linus Deo, et femininus humanitate, per quam attraxit
sibi reliquos homines in completionem conjugis suae,
ut incrementum et multiplicatio sit, et repletio, et
subjectio terrae per justitiam. Hie est quern Paulus
vocat " principium, primogenitus " (id est, primore- Coi. i. is.
genitus), " ut sit ipse in omnibus primatum tenens."
In quo est factura rerum, et refactura inchoata ab
homine, quae conjux assumpta est per caput, qui est
homo, a Maria virgine sumptus; cui sunt reliqui
vocati homines membra ex membro, ex quibus om
nibus constat una ecclesia, cujus maritus est Dei Fi
lius. Quae ecclesia ut effingeretur apta ad nuptias,
antecessit Moysaica lex: immo illic, ut in brevi
tabul&, quae est futura ecclesia in mundo significatur
a Patre facto capite ecclesiae; et, data Filio suo in
manum, agit idem Pater in completionem uxoris
Filii sui. Nemo venit nisi Pater traxerit in conju-
gium : simul Filius fecundat in frugem justitiae verae

66 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
et simplicis, turn in Deum tum in homines. Itaque
aeterno genito Filio, Pater in terris genuit filiam
ecclesiam, et eam locavit matrimonio Filio suo. Hinc
Filius Dei apud Marcum se sponsum vocavit ; dicens,
s. Mari?,ii. 19, « Numquid filii nuptiarum, quamdiu sponsus cum
illis est, possunt jejunare? Quanto tempore habent
secum sponsum, non possunt jejunare. Veniet autem
tempus quum auferetur ab eis sponsus ; et tunc jeju-
nabunt illis diebus." De his nuptiis est ilia parabola
s. Matth. xxu. apud Matthaeum, " Hominem regem " (id est, Deum
Patrem) " fecisse nuptias Filio suo; vocasse quam
plurimos, sed illos indignos non venisse; vocatos
multos, paucos venisse." Primum ergo quod est in
ecclesia nostra est pontifici nostro Veritas nuptiarum ;
in qua quia non est significatio, sed ipsa Veritas, ideo
puto Dionysium in Ecclesiasticd Hierarchia de matri
monio tacuisse, cujus sacramentum antecessit. Hinc
inter Deum et ecclesiam verae sunt nuptiae, etfeminei
hominis cum masculino Deo fecundissima conjunctio ;
ad quam omnia sacramenta in ecclesia tendunt; ut
homines parentur, et in illis Sanctis nuptiis continean-
tur sacramentis purgatoriis, illuminatoriis et perfec-
toriis. Homo in Dei Filium assumptus purissimus,
illuminatissimus, et perfectissimus erat, et vera Dei
uxor. Is sacerdotium instituit apostolos; qui pceni
tentia, baptismo, confirmatione, eucharistia, extrema
unctione, expurgent, illuminent, perficiant, et talibus
sacramentis consignent homines in uxorem Christi et
Dei. Consecravit primum sibi sacerdotes, ad exem-
plum angelorum, pontifex ille et sponsus; qui sunt
primi in sponsa Dei, et quasi mulieris anima; ut re-
liquum sponsae corpus confidant purgatum, illumina-
tum, et perfectum, ac ejusmodi dignis sacramentis

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE.

67

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68 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCEESUE.
consignent, ut sensibili sigillo et impressione spirit-
alem impressionem agnoscant. Dei Filius, pontifex
noster, vir, et sponsus, purgator idem et illuminator
et perfector, sanxivit nuptias inter se et sororem
suam adoptatam in domum Patris sui : instituit sub
se filios et pontifices, qui reliquam conjugem conse-
crent Deo. Quae quia corporea et caduca est, cor
poreis ' sacramentis, tanquam retinaculis quibusdam,
colligant; pcenitentia, baptismo, confirmatione, eu
charistia, et extrema unctione. Omnia ad haec ten-
dunt, ut compleatur conjux, et nuptiae Christi.
Sacerdotes sunt mariti in marito et sacerdote Jesu ;
et in illo purgantes pcenitentia, illuminantes bap
tismo et confirmatione, et perficientes eucharistia et
Matrimonium.Ordo Sacerdotii.
Pcenitentia. Baptismus.
Confirmatio.Eucharistia.
Extrema Unctio.

extrema unctione. Quid est tota
ecclesia nisi matrimonium illud
spiritale, vir et uxor, ordinati
etiam et qui ordinentur, purga-
tione, illuminatione et perfec-
tione, ut sordes, tenebrae et de-
fectus carnis tollatur a secundo
Adam ? Pontifex et sponsus se propagat, et in illo
omnes pontifices sunt sponsi, et agunt in illo pontifi-
cale munus, et parationem uxoris, et fecundationem
divino semine, et verbo Dei, ut eo fecunda ecclesia
parens et mater sit justitiae. Ordo ergo primum est
in ecclesia; pontifex enim ipse Christus; et in illo

' Corporeis sacr.] " Primis et summis hominibus apertiores sunt
visiones, ac in mentes eorum irradiatio simplicior deitatis. Eeliquis
deinde crassioribus per signa commode indicantur omnia; et morum
effictio, et Dei excultio, et veritatis expectatio."— Colet, in Cal. Hier.
(School MS., fol. 6, a).

02

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o a
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, , I Vir, Anima. i Proles, Humanitas.
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l Femina, populus. i

Femina, Corpus.

" Vir, Forma Corporis.-

Femina, Materia.

LProles, tertium compositum.

Omnia hsBC unus est

1

. Jesus

I Christus.

70 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
delude simul matrimonium, et in illo pontifices et
sponsi agentes pontificatum et sponsionem Christi, ut
spiritales nuptias propagent, omniaque contrahant
ordine in conjugem Christi, et in eodem contineantur.
Ipsa Veritas pontificis est Dei Filius, qui et ange-
lorum est idem quoque Veritas sponsi. Superior
ecclesiae pars in ratione pontificis et sponsi ilium
imitatur, ut in pontifice et sponso Deo pontificem et
sponsum agat, et sacrificet, prolemque progignat.
In qua actione quia idem est sponsus et pontifex,
idcirco idem est proles et sacrificium, quae [justitia]
est, quae sacrificatur a pontifice et progignitur a
sponso. In qua re idem est sacrificatio et progene-
ratio. Ut enim idem est sacrificans et generans (id
est, pontifex et sponsus in summo pontifice et sponso
Deo Christo), ita eadem est actio, sacrificatio etproli-
ficatio ; et eadem oblatio et proles, quae est justitia ;
quam ecclesia, sanctificata et fecundata a Deo Filio,
et offert et parit prolem et sacrificium. In persona
Ps. iv. 6, 7. ecclesiae, David in Psalmo quarto jubet, " Sacrificate
sacrificium justitiae, et sperate in Domino: multi
dicunt, Quis ostendit nobis bona? Signatum est
super nos lumen vultus tui, Domine." In quo anno-
tandum est breviter ibi a propheta, tactas esse illas
tres virtutes celeberrimas, spem, fidem et caritatem.
ib. iv. 10. Jubet enim speremus, qui " sumus constituti in spe
singulariter," id est simpliciter, et " sumus signati
lumine" fidei, quod est signum vultus et veritatis
Dei: et "Sacrificate sacrificium justitiae," quod idem
sacrificium est et proles Dei et ecclesiae. Quid enim
aliud est sacrificare quam parere, et procreare ex
semine et fecunditate Dei vivas et pingues hostias
vitali sanguine plenas? Et id quoque quidnam aliud

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 71
est quam juste agere, offerreque justitiam Domino illi
justitiae justificanti, et fecunditatis Domino fecun-
danti; ut idem sit pontifex Justus justificans, et
sponsus fecundus fecundans ecclesiam sponsam, quae
est gens sancta et sacerdotalis sacrificans, et eadem
mater fecunda verbo et semine Dei pariens, justitiam,
sacrificium et prolem Deo Filio, parenti genitorique
justitiae in sua, uxore ecclesia. Paulus autem, agens
in Jesu vero pontifice et sponso, personam pontificis
et sponsi, saepe in suis epistolis, in quibus se vocat
" dispensatorem mysteriorum Dei," et coadjutorem
quatenus ad pontificatus officium attinet, scribit in
epistola ad Romanos hisce verbis: "Audacius autem Rom.xv.i5,i6.
scripsi vobis, fratres, ex parte, tanquam in memoriam
vobis reducens, propter gratiam quae data est mihi a
Deo " (in quo ago ministerium), " ut sim minister
Jesu Christi in gentibus, sanctificans evangelium
Dei, ut fiat oblatio gentium accepta" (id est, justitia
in eis) " et sanctificata in Spiritu Sancto;" inobedi
entia scilicet Deo. Et ad eosdem Romanos, quos
velit gentem esse sanctam et sacerdotalem, (nam est
sacerdotis sacerdotium propagare : nihil enim est
munus et officium cuj usque, nisi propagatio ejusdem,
et qui se sacrificavit Deo efficere ut secum alii consa-
crificent, ut tota ecclesia sit sacerdotium consacri-
ficans justitiam, id est, quisque in ea se justum,
vivam hostiam, offerat Deo) scribit : " Obsecro itaque R°m. xii. i, 2.
vos, fratres, per misericordiam Dei, ut exhibeatis
corpora vestra hostiam viventem, sanctam, Deo
placentem, rationale obsequium vestrum. Et nolite
conformari huic saeculo ; sed reformamini in novitate
spiritus vestri; ut probetis quae sit voluntas Dei
bona, beneplacens et perfecta." Hic ecclesia inferior

72 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
superiorem ecclesiam imitatur, et sacrificans se illam
sacrificantem se Deo contendit referre. Quia nihil est
aliud officium in ecclesia, quam sacrificatio sui cu-
jusque Deo; et id quoque nihil est aliud quam se
filium Dei facere. Sacrificare est ergo facere filium
summo pontifici et sponso. Et ecclesia est sacerdos
et mater; justitia est 'sacrificium et proles. Mascu-
linior pars cum femininiori agit assidue, ut a tota simul
sacrificium et proles offeratur. Offert masculinior
ut gignens, femininior ut mater et parens. Tota res
Gai. iv. 19. una est et simplex, et quasi arbor fructificans. " Fi-
lioli mei," inquit ad Galathas Paulus, " quos iterum
parturio, donee formetur in vobis Christus." Ibi
Christum sponsum imitatur, cujus est in conjuge for-
mare filios justitiae, facereque ut conjux sacerdos
offerat filios Deo, justa sacrificia justitiae. Est enim
ecclesia soror Christi, et mater et sacerdos justitiae ;
sponsa et sacerdos pati ns non agens. Sunt enim
sacrificantes agentes, et sacrificantes patientes. Una
sacrificat agens, et [una] l pars patiens in ecclesia. Et
1 Peter a 9; 2, tota ecclesia, ut Petrus scribit, "genus electum,
3,4. ' , • •
regale sacerdotium, gens sancta, populus acquisi
tions " est simul ; " ut modo geniti infantes, ut cres-
camus in salutem," in similitudinem Domini; "ad
quern accedentes, lapidem vivum, electum, ipsi
lapides vivi superaedificemur, domus spiritalis, sacer
dotium sanctum, offerentes spiritales hostias, accep-
tabiles Deo per Jesum Christum. Haec hostia est
suum cuj usque in se sacrificium justitiae Deo in
Christo, quae etiam justitia est filia Dei in nobis
genita, verbo Dei audito et credito, et nobis edita.
1 Una.] There is no blank in the MS, but the word seems to be
required.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE. 73

VII.
Hue ergo ventum est tandem vago hoc sermone, ut
habeamus matrimonium et sacerdotium in Christo
omnino esse idem, et eandem actionem effectumque
habere; sacrificareque esse idem quod gignere, et
prolem idem quod sacrificium, quae justitia est : hanc
rem, matrimonialeque sacerdotium, et sacerdotale
matrimonium, venisse et derivatum esse in homines
ab ipso sacerdote et sponso Jesu Christo. In quo, ad
imitationem ipsius, deinceps in reliqua ecclesia pro-
cedet simul et idem sacerdotium et matrimonium
sanctum, sanctificans sanctam ecclesiam Deo ; ut to-
tum officium superioris et masculiiiioris partis in eccle
sia sit studere in sanctificationem inferioris ; inferioris
autem obedire in omnibus, ut sanctificetur. Id est
quod Paulus latenter suadet in Epistola ad Ephesios,
quum viri et mulieris officium docet : mulieris sci- Eph. v. 22, sq.
licet officium obedire in omnibus viro in sanctifica
tionem s[uam] ab illo in Domino; viri autem (qui ¦
caput est mulieris, sicut ecclesiae Christus) diligere
uxorem, et ad exemplum Christi seipsum tradere pro
ea, sanctificans eam et mundans lavacro aquae gratiae
in Verbo Vitae; ut exhiberet ipse sibi gloriosam
uxorem, non habentem maculam, neque rugam, aut
aliquid ejusmodi, sed sanctam et immaculatam. Nam
in Christo sponsum esse, est ilium imitari, et sancti
ficationem corporis sui agere, id est mulieris, in aeter-
nitatem; sicut in prima, generatione mulier egit
corruptionem capitis sui viri in mortalitatem: item
fecundare adhaerentem sibi conjugem, et implere
justitia; ut, " sicut exhibuimus membra nostra servire Rom. vi. 19.
immunditiae, et iniquitati ad iniquitatem, ita nunc

74. DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE.
exhibeamus membra nostra servire justitiae in sancti-
ficationem." Jesus enim, castus sponsus, propagator
spiritus, extat nobis exemplum. Omnis actio in
ecclesia debet esse imitatio illius, ut non sit in ea
quicquam, nisi quod ipsum est in illo verius; nee
debet esse in ecclesia nisi quod ab illius veritate
derivetur. Ille maritus est ecclesiae in sanctifica-
tionem ejus ; qui, caput illius, se ipsum tradidit pro
ea, ut illam sanctificet et impleat fetu justititae. In
hunc finem debet esse quisque maritus in ecclesia in
Domino, in sanctificationem uxoris suae et castum
conjugium; ut, sicut ab Adam1 peccatore profluxit
carnalis generatio in mortem, ita ab Adam justo pro-
fluat spiritalis generatio in vitam aeternam. Carnalis
autem generatio, tametsi mollitudini hominum in
prima epistola ad Corinthios ab apostolo indulgetur,
necessitate magis quam voluntate, tamen ipsa non est
res Christi : nee ea nee ejus prolificatio in Christiani-
tate requiritur2 necessario, tametsi necessario mol-

1 Ab Adam.] "Adam must be considered not as a private man,
but as a roote or head, bearing in it all mankind; or as a publike per
son representing all his posteritie ; and therefore, when he sinned, all
his posteritie sinned with him : as in a parliment, whatsoever is done
by the burgesse for the shiere, is done by every person in the shiere."
— Perkins, Exposition of the Creede (1597), p. 154.
2 Requiritur.] Compare with this strong opinion what Sir Thomas
More writes in his Utopia (tr. by Eobinson, 1624, p. 125) : — " They
be divided into two sects : the one, of them that live single and chaste,
abstaining not only from the company of women, but also from eating
of flesh, and some of them from all maner of beasts. Which, utterly
rejecting the pleasures of this present life as hurtful], be all wholly
set upon the desire of the life to come  The other sect is no
lesse desirovft of Labour, but they embrace Matrimonie, not despising
the solace thereof, thinking that they cannot be discharged of their
bounden duties towards nature, without labour and toile. nor towards
their native countioy, without procreation of childicn. They abstaine

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE. 75
libus et infirmis permittitur. Est enim ilia res
hominis creati in damnationem, non recreati ho
minis in Christo in salutem. Ratio enim sacra
menta. in eo, modo adsit Veritas ipsa matrimonii,
evanescat et abeat necesse est. Materiam regene-
rationis satis suppeditasset paganitas, si in ea parte
ecclesia omnino sterilis fuisset. Nee erat timen-
dum ne tota paganitas Christianizet, quum nunc
quoque sub ipso nomine Christianitatis maxima pars
hominum paganizet. Veritas sincera semper rara est,
et in paucis. Et perrexisset generatio carnalis in
filiis hominum, et simul ex iisdem generatio spiritalis
a filiis Dei. De qua re consulentibus Corinthiis in
Epistola respondit Paulus : Incontinentibus, vitandae rEp.Cor. vii.
fornicationis causa, ex indulgentiis licere eis uxores
suas tenere, si habent ; si non habeant, ducere, et in
matrimonio rem mutuo reddere, quando libidinis
! ardor et necessitas urget. Verum haec invitus per-
fmittit, qui voluit omnes esse sicut ipse erat, virgo; et
i~ uadet, quatenus per infirmitatem impotentiamque
continendi licet, disjugatis, tum viduis tum virginibus,
soluti et liberi maneant Deo. Beatiores eos dicit,
si sic permanserint, quia virgines et viduae quietius et
simplicius vacabunt Deo, vero marito suo. Verum
in omnibus non est sanitas quidem, et aegrotis indul-
gendum est ex ecclesiae misericordia. " Unusquisque ib. vii. 7.
from no pleasure that doth nothing hinder them from labour. They love
i the flesh of foure-footed beasts, because they beleeve that by the meat
they be made hardie and stronger to worke. The Utopians count this
sect the wiser, but the other the holyer. Which in that they preferre
[ single life before matrimony, and that sharpe life before the easier life,
i if herein they grounded upon reason, they would mocke them : But now
'forasmuch as they say they be led to it by religion, they honour and
worship them."

76 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
proprium donum habet; ahus quidem sic, alius vero
sic." In tanta infirmitate non audet Paulus la-
queum injicere optimis, necnon indulgere aliquatenus
deteriori. Quod facit ea lege, ut homines ea licentia
utantur. Siquidem qui velint potius sani esse, et
tales ut indulgentia nihilo egeant, alioquin sponte
videntur aegrotare et insanire; quod est in ecclesia
Christiana detestabile, ut aliquis scilicet sponte lan-
gueat mulieretque, quum sumus vocati in virilem
dignitatem, non ut turpe aliquid et carnale mulie-
briter agamus. At imbecillioribus, et non valentibus
agere quod melius est, ipsum tametsi malum est,
tamen aegroto non est malum ; modo medicina indulta
utatur non amplius quam suus morbus exposcat.
Quum videt omnes in ecclesia ad exemplum Christi
coelibes esse oportere, tamen simul vidit omnes non
posse. Quapropter, ut velit potentes coelibes vivere,
ita impotentes permisit refrigerio sui ardoris uti. Op-
tandum est tamen ut tota Christianitas esset in
ccelibatu; quod optavit ipse Paulus, quando dixit,
1 Cor. vii. 7. " Vellem vos omnes esse sicut ego sum ; " quoniam
sancta ecclesia Christi, tota spiritalis, non requirit
nisi matrimonium spiritale et spiritalem prolifica-
tionem in marito nostro Jesu Christo ; in quo carnales
homines sunt facti spiritales, ut propagationem non
agant nunc, nisi angelorum more, ad exemplum
Christi, spiritalem justitiae.
In superiore parte ecclesiae in Christo est ordo, et
matrimonium, ut ita dicam, masculinum, quod voca-
tur sacerdotium, quod ipsum est etiam sponsus in
sponso, quod partitur in varios ordines. Sunt Pres-
byteri, quos Dionysius vocat Pontifices.1 Sunt etiam

1 See above, p. 47.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 77
quos ille vocat Ministros ; in quibus sunt Subdiaconi,
Acoliti, Exorcistae, Lectores, Hostiarii; qui omnes
exercitantur -in purgatione, sicut Sacerdotes Diaco-
nique in illuminatione, et postremo sicut illi Ponti
fices in perfectione et consummatione. Nam totum
officium viri est in purgatorum illuminatione, fide,
et perfectione eorundem caritate. Purgatio tendit
in simplicitatem et constantiam spei. In Psalmo
quarto est, " Constituisti me singulariter in spe." v. 10.
Illuminatio effectum suum habet fidem, ut " in lu- ps. xxxv. 10.
mine Dei videamus lumen," et in aenigmate veritatem,
et in imagine vultum. Quod lumen fidei, ut in illo
eodem Psalmo testatur David, " signatum est super iv. 7.
nos," et est imago vultus Dei et veritatis. Perfec-
tionis autem finis est sacrificium justitiae ex caritate.
Haec molitur superior pars ecclesiae, et una cum
eadem obedit et patitur inferior pars matrimonii et
sacerdos feminea, ut pariat et sacrificet filios justitiae
Deo. De ordine loquitur Dionysius, de matrimonio
tacet ; vel intelligens sacerdotium matrimonium esse,
vel in sua taciturnitate nos docens non aliud in ec
clesia Christi matrimonium esse oportere, quam sacer
dotium; carnale matrimonium, quod erat spiritalis
sacramentum, modo coruscante veritate discussum
esse et abiisse. Antecessit illud olim in primordio
humani generis, et in paradiso coepit Divinae conjunc-
tionis et humanae symbolum ;l Christi, aeterni sponsi,
et ecclesiae conjugii signum et sacramentum. Quae
quidem ecclesia virago in somno illo in vivifica carne
1 " Cum alia sacramenta post peccatum, et propter peccatum exor
dium sumpserint, matrimonii sacramentum etiam ante peccatum legitur
institutum a Domino : non tamen ad remedium, sed ad officium." —
Petr. Lomb. Sentent. iv. 26.

78 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESL3E.
ex illius costa et latere formata erat mulier Dei,
unde sanguis redemptionis sponsae et aqua ablutionis
Eph. v. 26,27. ejus in omni sanctificatione effluxit, " ut-illam sancti-
ficaret, mundans eam lavacro aquae in Verbo Vitae in
seipso, ut exhiberet ipse sibi gloriosam ecclesiam,
non habentem maculam neque rugam nee aliquid
ejusmodi, sed sanctam et immaculatam ;" ut tota
sancta adhaereat sancto illi Deo quern vivificavit
Dominus, ut in illo cum illo mirabiliter evadat unus
Eph. v. 32. spiritus. Testatur in Epistola ad Ephesios Paulus,
viraginem illam sumptam de latere viri, — carnem ex
carne et os ex ossibus illius, propter quam " relinquet
homo patrem et matrem, et adhaerebit uxori suae," —
"magnum esse sacramentum in Christo et ecclesia;"
in qua nemo conjugatur conj unctione significante,
sed significata; non carnali sed spiritali; non Sacra
mento sed veritate ; omnes ad imitationem Christi in
omnibus; ut quisque diligat uxorem sicut Christus
ecclesiam, in uxoris sanctificationem in veritate.
Matrimonium et sacerdotium idem est; et in supe-
riore parte ecclesiae ac masculina ejus officium est
purgare, illuminare, et perficere; ut tota ecclesia
pariat et sacrificet prolem justitiae Deo. At haec de
Ordine et Matrimonio sufficiant.

VIII.
Uti modo diffuso sermone ostendimus, superior ec
clesiae pars in Christo, masculinior et activior, sacerdos
est et sponsus, pater et genitor justitiae in inferiore
parte ecclesiae, quae est femininior et magis passiva,
et quasi sponsa ac mater, in qua justitia formari de-

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 79
beat. Justitia autem est fides Deo per Christum, et
caritas Dei et proximi. Haec ex Deo ipso est homini
bus electis ; illis quos Deus irradiat, ut fide respiciant
ilium et reament, et ex fide hominibus bene agant.
Radius Dei et lucet et calet suavissime. Hic in Deo
vera bonitas est, et bona Veritas; in hominis anima
idem radius est fidelis amor Deo et amans fides. Sed
ut nihil possit lucere et calere nisi prius sit, — est
autem quodque simplicitate et veritate, nam divisio
et multiplicitas mors est — ut aliquid ergo illuminetur
fide, et concaleat amore Dei et proximi, oportet illud
recreetur prius, quasi ex nihilo, et a multiplicitate
pulvereque ad simplicitatem, a divisione morteque
ad veritatem etjvitam contrahatur, ut sit in tali esse
et puncto ut Divino radio attingi possit, illuminarique
et perfici in summo sole Deo, qui est in Jesu Christo.
Est enim in homine quod suum est proprium, indi-
viduum et simplex; quod mala et multiplici ratione
obductum et involutum vacillat secum, et titubat;
qua externa conditione oportet spolietur homo om
nino, et expurgetur illud intimum individuum, ut in
se redeat, et extet nudum, purum et simplex; ac
nunc, subtractis omnibus impedimentis, et abrepto
omni onere quod deorsum detrusit, solutum et libe-
rum in se intime et summe constet; abductum jam
ab omni divisa et multiplici conditione, et expositum
Deo alte in ratione simplici et individua, et in se
penitus nuditer et aperte; ut, tale apparens in Deo,
in Deo summo sole statim attactus1 Divino radio
illuminetur et calefiat. Hoc individuum in homine
Paulus vocat " hominem interiorem :" Salvator in Eph. in. ie.
1 Attactus.] Sc. homo.

80 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESL/E.
Matth. vi. 22. evangelio " hominis oculum;" qui " si simplex fuerit,
totum corpus lucidum erit." Simplicitas hujus indi-
vidui hominis, et animae unitas, et esse in Deo per
Christum, est spes, quae est ilia nuda et simplex ex-
positio et apparitio humanae animae Deo, omni quasi
appendice abstracto, ut levis et libera nunc anima
secum constet in se intime, et in Deo, stabiliter con-
juncta uni et unifico Deo, et ab illo solo dependens
et ab eodem cert[e] expectans omnia. Quae sperans
expectatio est animae suum esse spiritale, potentia,
firmitas, et constantia, purgationis finis, Christiani
hominis initium, qua imprimis quisque Christianus
et tota ecclesia quasi fixa et stabilita est in puncto,
essentia spiritali, ut deinde altius in lumen et
perfectionem sui promoveatur. De ecclesia inquit
v. 10. David in Psalmo quarto, " Tu, Domine, singulariter
in spe constituisti me."1 Quum quis implicatur ra-
tionibus Deo contrariis, stultitia et nequitia hujus
mundi, non est sui compos, et ita dividitur et distra-

1 Colet has twice before (p. 70, and p. 77) referred to this pas
sage ; and it is observable what force he attaches to the word singula
riter in the Latin version. Wycliffe's rendering exhibits the form of
the text in that version most closely : — " In pes into itself I shal slepe
and reste. For thou, Lord, singulerli in hope hast togidere set me."
{Forshall and Madden's edition, 1850).
The interpretation above given of singulariter, namely " in simpli
city," or " singleness of heart," is perhaps due to Augustine's Com
mentary on the text. His words are : — " Et bene ait singulariter :
potest enim referri adversus illos multos qui, multiplicati a tempore
frumenti, vini et olei sui, dicunt Quis ostendit nobis bona ? perit enim
hsec multiplicitas, et singularitas tenetur in Sanctis, de quibus dicitur in
Actibus Apostolorum, Multitudinis autem credentium erat anima una
et cor unum (iv. 32). Singulares ergo et simplices, id est, secreti a
multitudine ac turba nascentium rerum ac morientium, amatores seter-
nitatis et unitatis esse debemus, si uni Deo et Domino nostro cupimus
inha?rere." — Enarratio in Psalmum iv.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESU5J. 81
hitur, ut in solo Deo uno et individuo sperare non
possit. Primus ergo labor et negotium est sacerdo-
tii in ecclesia, ut expurget et purificet homines in
simplicitatem et spem Deo; ut desperare desinant et
sperare incipiant ; ut, • remotis dispositionibus con-
trariis, quum jam in summa spe sint in Deo, hoc ipso
sint regeniti, ut inde simul promoti perficiantur.
Quod docet divus Petrus in Epistola ad dispersos
Judaeos, sic exorsus : " Benedictus Deus et Pater 1 Pet. i. 3.
Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui secundum misericor
diam suam regeneravit nos in spem vivam, per resur-
rectionem [Jesu Christi ex mor]tuis ;" in quo homines
simul resurgunt per potentiam Patris a vita mori-
bund&, interminata desperatione, in spem vivam, ut
in Patre genitore quisque jam sperans sit, vivens, et
habeat esse unitatis et simplicitatis in Patre, cui
unitas et potentia attribuitur, per quern potenter est
in spe, et stabilit[ur] purgatoria, vi ministrorum Dei.
Ad CoUocenses inquit Paulus : " Immobiles a spe Coi. i. 23.
evangelii quod accepistis." Est in hac spe immobi-
litas et paterna constantia, quae est proprie in esse et
unitate, quae unitas Patris est et potentis genitoris,
in quo potenter vivunt homines, qui ministri sunt
Dei, quorum opus est, ut scribit Paulus ad Hebraeos,
" Introductio melioris spei, per quam proximamus ad Hebr. vii. 19.
Deum." Nam soluti in mundo longe absunt a Deo.
Et qui in multis mundi rebus sunt distracti diversa
spe et expectatione earum, ii revera non sunt, et
desperantes Deum nihil sunt. Ut recolligantur et
reuniantur spe uni Deo, per quam ad Deum proxi-
ment, despectis et abjectis omnibus in quibus spera-
verunt terrenis, multiplicibus et divisis distrahenti-
busque homines, — ut sit (inquam) recollectio et intro-
Q

82 ' DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIA.
ductio in spem meliorem, per quam proximent Deo,
est labor et officium paternae administrationis et
spiritalis regenerationis in Deo. Et in hoc paterni
sacerdotii in ecclesia est prima actio, ut desperationis
pulverem discutiat, et depellat adversantia et impe-
dientia omnia divinam reformationem, nudetque quasi
statuam humanam novo colore depingendam, procreet
hominem in suam ipsius simplicem unitatem, educat
ab aquis hujus mundi in spiritum Dei, ab imo terrae
in altum cceli; ut in monte spei extet vicinus Deo;
ut ab illo illustretur et exornetur, exuat vetustatem
male olentem ex faece hujus mundi, et induat [since-
ram novitatem]; abradat a vase amarum saporem
veteris imbutionis, ut sit novum vas suavissimi vini
Dei; spoliet et detrahat foedam et squalidam vestem,
quam ipse sibi homo rudi arte ex terra, hujus mundi
contexuit, et induat eam novam et coelestem, ex ma
teria gratiae lucis,1 Spiritus Sancti digitis contextam;
sit anima penitus simplex, una, individua, in unam
partem duntaxat et unice intenta in unum Deum
mera et indivisibili spe, puncto hoc spei constans in
Deo, et Mc radice alte infixus in terra viventium ; ut
radicatus spe pulchre crescat fide, et charitate fructi-
ficet utiliter et spisse bona opera in vitam aeternam.
Primus ergo effectus sacerdotii in humiliori ecclesiae
parte est spes Deo, qui finis est purgationis; quae
eadem spes etiam humilitas, subjectio, et obedientia
est Deo; ut ab illo in divinam formam exaltetur.
Haec sunt quae vel spes ipsa est, vel spem indivisibi-
liter comitantur, et simul in ea emergente anima ex
hoc mundano mari se ostentant; videlicet puritas,
nuditas, simplicitas, unitas, potentia, constantia, sta-

1 Gratim lucis.] Probably one of these words should be omitted.

DE . SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIA. 83
bilitas, firmitas, radicatio, humilitas, subjectio, obedi-
entia, essentia, generatio, filiatio, vita, initium, fund-
amentum, et ejusmodi omnia, quae principii rationem
habent, et inchoationis soliditatem. Est enim certe
homo sperans Deo purus, nudus, simplex, in se unus,
radicatus humiliter, subjectus obedienter, generatus
in esse firmo, potenti, constanti, stabili, filius Dei
vivus jam inchoatus et fundatus alta, et solida, spe, ut
in reliquum aedificium perficiatur.
Ut homo reducatur in hanc et obedientem spem,
elaborant ministri assidue, docentes ex sacris Uteris
quam sperandum est in Deo, quam simul quae mundi
sunt desperanda et abjicienda. Hi ostiarii, lectores,
exorcistae, et id genus hominum qui in inferiori ec
clesia in purgandis hominibus spiritaliter se exercent :
catechumeni vero vocantur qui sic instruuntur, et
ilia operatio catechizatio vocatur. In Epistola ad
Galathas praecipit Paulus : " Communicet is qui cate- Gal. vi. 6.
chizatur verbo ei qui se catechizat, in omnibus bonis."
Oportet doceatur ut abrenunciet quae sunt hujus
[mundi] omnia, ut in spem soli Deo deinceps se reci-
piat. Hoc significat depositio vestium et hominis nu-
datio in novum indumentum,1 ut poeniteat maleactae

1 Indumentum.] To the same effect Colet writes under the head of
Spiritalis Speculatio Baptismi (School MS. fol. 34* b.) : — " Christian-
itas est professio simplicitatis, in quam trahitur homo, ut a multitudine
in simplicitatem. Non patitur Christus simplex duplicem tunicam. In
ejus veste nuptiali si vis esse, faciendum est ut nudus accedas, ut eam
induas, pristinamque vivendi formam deponas, ut subeas eam quse
Christi est. Id velit [vult] et significat quod exuit vestes omnes is qui
se confert in Christum; quod exspuit et exsufflat ad occidentem, et
magna protestatione abrenunciat quicquid est iniquitatis; quod se in
orientem nudum jam penitus objicit radiis exorti solis justitise ; id, in-
quam, significat, ut purgatus et simplex simplicem et purum divinum
radium capiat, et vestem lucis et justitia? induat, quam in Christo con-
texit gratia sancti Spiritus."

84 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
vitae, ut confiteatur se peccasse, ut habeat voluntatem
redimendi tempus, et recompensandi ilia mala cum
bonis in Deo, ac satisfaciendi modo deinceps contrario ;
ut bonitatis lanx, quae erat ante depressa, justa satis-
factione peccatorum lancem adaequet; immo potius
superet justitiae causa, ut erat ante superata. Quum
enim confessorum peccatorum te pceniteat tui, salus
esse non potest quidem, nisi redimas tempus, recom
penses, et satisfacias, exsurgas ut superes, sicut eras
superatus, pugnes, prosternas, vincas, malum cum
bono superes ; ut justa, recompensatione sit pro malis
tuis satisfactio in bonitate, vel re vel voluntate, ut
energens in te ea justitia a justo Deo apprehendare.
Quid ergo cuique peccato contrarium, et sua cuique
vitio quae propria virtus, diligenter docendi sunt ca-
techumeni ; ut discant in meliori vita pro malis bona
recompensare, et pro peccatis in justitiae operibus sa-
tisfacere, ut simul cum justitia sit misericordia Dei;
ut erat in peccatis libido et voluptas, ita pro eisdem
dolor et tristitia sit, et quidam animo angor et cor
poris cruciatus, qui ut ignis expurget labes pecca
torum, et eradicet funditus, ut iterum non pullu-
lent. Quum in manibus ministrorum est aliquis ut
purgetur, utque colluviem peccatorum lacrymis lavet
et abstergat, vel catechumenus, vel poenitens, vel
energumenus,1 vel apostata, tametsi is rursus sit
in ecclesia tamen non numeratur, nee est ex
hierarchia et corpore Christi; in quo nemo esse

1 Energumenus.] Cf. Dionys. Eccl. Hier. c. iii. § 6. " Post ha3c,
extra delubrum catechumini fiunt, et cum ipsis energumini, et ii quoque
qui in penitentia sunt. Manent autem intus soli qui divina spectare
merentur atque percipere." See also Sir Peter King's Enquiry into
the  Primitive Church (1713), p. 106.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE. 85
potest, nisi purgatus et perfectus. Unde constat
omnes malos Christianos non esse in ecclesia, sed
extra, ut purgentur: et interea, dum peccatorum
contagione infecti sunt, eis non licere nee mysteria
audire, nee sacramenta aspicere, quoniam profanos et
foedos habent oculos. Quae sunt ad vitae eruditionem,
audire possunt; uti sunt ex sacris Uteris cantus et
lectiones.1 At quum sacramenta aguntur, longe pro-
pellantur; foedi enim et turpes illuminari non pos
sunt, ut videant sacra, quae nemo recte discernit nisi
illuminatus fide, ut " in lumine Dei lumen videat :"
fidei autem acies in peccatorum flumine exstinguitur.
Fide spectantur sacramenta, et eorum mysteria intel-
liguntur. Ut autem credamus, sine peccato [esse]
oportet. Infuscatur enim et obtenebratur fides in
peccatorum caligine et fumo. Ait ille, " Adhuc in 1 Cor. xv. 17.
peccatis vestris estis." Donee ergo deponatur tetra
ilia et detestabilis vestis scelerum et dolorum, ac
tristitiae facibus comburatur, et pro ea vicissim nudus
ille modo induat nitidam et amabilem vestem nuptia-
lem, in mensa ccelestium dapum et sacramentorum
Dei non discumbat. De Mc re distincte, tanquam
de sacramento, non locutus est Dionysius ;3 quoniam
est potius via et paratio ad sacrament[um quam] sa-
1 Lectiones.] See Bingham, Origines (1711), iii. p. 160. " The
Church, ever since she first divided her Catechumens and Penitents
into distinct orders and classes, had also distinct places in the church
for them. And this lower part of the church was the place of the
Energumens, and such of the Catechumens and Penitents as were
commonly called Audientes, that is, Hearers, because they were
allowed to stand here to hear the Psalms and Scriptures read, and the
Sermon made by the Preacher ; after which they were dismissed with
out any Prayers or Solemn Benediction."
2 Dionysius.] In the Eccl. Hierar. c. ii. where Dionysius is de-
scribing the ceremonies at Baptism, mention is made of the stripping

86 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIA.
cramentum; ut exuere antecedit induere, et recon-
ciliatio amicitiam, et procuratio adoptionem, et'curatio
sanitatem, et lotio ac tersio nitorem. Justa ilia mi
sericordia et misericors justitia non miseretur quidem
nisi in justitia. Confessionem quum videt peccato
rum, pce'nitentiam, et satisfactionem, tum miseretur
juste et misericorditer justificat. Et hoc quoque,
quotienscunque hanc justitiae voluntatem in nobis
deprehendit, confessionis, poenitentiae et satisfactionis,1
fidefragi sumus, et amicitia, professa, deficimus, et a
gradu stationis nostrae miseri delabimur. Sed ilia
supra quam excogitari potest indulgens pietas Dei
(quae non vult mortem peccatoris, sed ut convertatur
et vivat), quotienscunque ex casu resurgimus, pudore
et dolore affecti quod turpiter decidimus, et correptis
armis iterum bona, spe in spiritalem hostem animosi-
ter irruimus, dux nostrae militiae divina ilia pietas
nostram industriam et voluntatem debellandi non
recusat; quinimmo amplectitur, fovet, laudat, coro-
off his own apparel from a person about to be baptized : — " Quam
(precem) cum omnis secum ecclesia terminaverit, discingit quidem
ipsum, ac ministrorum manibus exuit." Pachymeres, in his Para
phrase, expands this into something resembling the text : — " Deinde
dicit de vestium depositione. Cum enim non liceat alicui summe con-
trariorum participem existere, sanitatis, v. g. et morbi, et peccati et
virtutis, et ignorantise cognitionisque Dei, divisam etiam necesse sit
habere vitam qui utraque amplectitur ; proptereaque liberum esse
oporteat qui ad alteram vitam transfertur, nullum affectum retinendo
prioris vitas : idcirco, qui adducitur, nudus sistitur." — Venice Edition
(1755), i. 183.
1 Satisfactionis,] The sense here is somewhat obscure ; unless we
suppose something to have been missed out after satisfactionis. Pos
sibly quanquam may have been written instead of, or in addition to,
quoque above (the contractions of the two words being similar) ; in
which ease the sense would be : — " And this too (God does), although,
as often as he marks in us this desire of righteousness, confession,
penitence and compensation, we (again) break our pledge, <fec."

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 87
nat. In Mc militia Christiana necesse est, pro natura
belli, vicissitudinaria sit victoria; ut cadere non sit
damnabile, sed prostratum velle jacere. Statim si
resurgas, quanquam non es comparandus cum illis
qui nunquam ceciderint, tamen quum nolis victus
jacere, miles non es inutilis. Non tam succenset
tibi Deus quod cecidisti, quam gratam habet resur-
rectionem tuam. " Peccare humanum est," ait Chry-
sostomus,1 "jacere diabolicum." Rogante Petro, ' 0 Matth. xviii.
Salvator, septiesne duntaxat peccanti ignosceret,' re-
spondit misericordia ipsa, ' Immo septuagesies sep-
ties.' Et proposuit parabolam, in qua docuit non
ignotum ei fore qui non ignoscit. Quoties ergo fide-
fragi sumus, quotiens " ut canis reversus ad vomitum, 2 Pet. u. 22.
ut sus lota in volutabro luti," tametsi posteriora sunt
pejora prioribus, tamen Deus qui cognoscit figmen-
tum nostrum, qui cognoscit quam homo pronus est
ad malum ab adolescentia, quotiens diluere sordes et
mundare nos volumus, et ad fidem redire, non repu-
diat, sed de centesima, ove inventa gaudet plus quam
de nonaginta novem qui non erraverunt; et ecclesia,
mulier, uxor Dei, cum vicinis gaudet magis de drag- /
ma inventa quam de omnibus quae possidet ; et pater
ille de reverso filio, qui perdite dissipavit substan-
tiam suam, tamen dicenti, " Peccavi in coelum, coram Luke xv. 21.
te; jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuus," tanto-
pere exultavit, omnibus laetitiae signis exhibitis (stola,
annulo, calceamentis, vitulo; ut magis non potuit),
dicens, "Hic filius meus mortuus erat, et revixit;
perierat, et inventus est." Est Salvatoris audienda
1 Parcenesis I. ad Theodorum Lapsum, § 15. " Nam peccare
quidem, humanum est ; at in peccatis perseverare, id non humanum
est, sed omnino satanicum."

88 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE.
Luke xv. 10. et colenda sententia, quod " gaudium erit coram an
gelis Dei super uno peccatore poenitentiam agente,"
et se purgante, ut videat sacramenta Dei, ut alienatus
reconcilietur Deo. Cujus reconciliationis, quae fit
confessione delicti, pcenitentia et recompensatione,
ecclesia sacramentum instituit; ut, quemadmodum
ad veterem abolendam maculam statutum est sacra
mentum, ita nova immaculatione suum sacramentum
habeat. Radio Dei fiunt omnia, qui in sacramentis
evadit sensibilis,1 in corporum etiam purgationem.
Purgatio, illuminatio et perfectio omnis est sacra
menta effectus ; et radius ille Dei benignus nihil aliud
agit nisi avocationem hinc, et illuc in coelum revoca-
tionem, illuminationem nostri cum tenebrarum de-
pulsione. In quo est hoc valde notandum, nullius
sacramenta esse ex proposito et intento depellere
tenebras et sordes diluere ; sed lumen infundere per
se, quod necessario fuga, tenebrarum comitatur. Hinc
Baptismus, quod sacramentum est advenientis Spiritus
in hominem purgatum, et regignentis Deo, a Diony-
sio vocatur sacramentum Uluminationis ;2 quia adest

1 Sensibilis.] Cf. Cosiest. Hier. c. i. " Neque enim aliter fas est
infirmitati nostoe lucere divinum ilium radium, nisi sacrorum varietate
velaminum, quibus ad superiora ferremur, opertum."
- Hluminationis.] Eccl. Hier. c. iii. " Sic igitur et sacrum divinse
generationis sacramentum, quia primi luminis consortium tradit, om-
nimnque divinarum illustrationum principium est, ex effectu ipsorve-
rissimo illud Hluminationis cognomine prsedicamus."
In the abstract of the Ecclesiastical Hierarcliy, which is in the
School MS., Colet says much on the illuminatio of which Baptism is
the sign. Thus, under the head of Spiritalis Speculatio Baptismi,
he writes : — " Deus bonus et benignus est, justitia? sol, spiritales
naturas irradians, similiter et a^quabiliter se fundens in omnes sine
intermissione, et astans ad fores et fenestras animi, pulsans ut recipia-
tur." (fol. 34, a). And further on, speaking of the address to the

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE. 89
jam Spiritus lucidus, qui dicit, " Hic est filius meus Matth. iii. 17.
dilectus, in quo mihi bene complacui." In qua illus-
tratione obscuritas omnis et macula discutitur. Aqua
ilia intinctionem gratiae significat, et obruitionem
quae nos absorbet in spiritum, et facit ut, secundum
carnem, in fide mortis Christi moriamur, vivamus
autem et sentiamus Spiritu, jam toti spiritales, rege-
niti Spiritu sancto Dei : ideo baptisma illuminationis
et regenerationis vocatur. Infantes baptizati nube-
culam originalis injustitiae adventu luminis habent
propulsam, modo quae secutura est vita sacramento
¦ respondent. Adulti autem, ut illuminentur, quae
ispi scientes commiserint peccata, et agnoscunt, et con-
fitentur, et dolent et satisfaciunt. Item qui recasu in
tenebras lumen exstinxerunt, hic non solum fides, sed
voluntaria confessio, moeror, et recompensatio est ne-
cessaria; hic oportet sit spontanea relictio peccato
rum. Volunt autem, quos Deus vult, in cujus bona
voluntate volunt. Ille " operatur in nobis et velle PhLUpp. ii. 13.
et perficere." Quos Deus vult agnoscere et abrenun-
tiare peccata, ii abrenuntiant in Deo. Et quos Deus
solvit, relaxat, et dimittit, ii se solvunt et relaxant in
Deo ; et, confitentes ac odientes peccatorum vincula,
erumpunt et exeunt in Deo. Hujus divinae solutionis,
liberationis, et remissionis sacerdotum ministerio
oportet sit sacramentum, et signum aliquod venera-
' bile misericordis voluntatis Dei, qui immittit in homi
nem voluntatem solvendi, et agnoscendi et abjiciendi
peccata. Veruntamen quanquam in Deo vult esse
baptized, he has these striking words : — " Pontifex, quem illuminavit
Christus, solis instar, ex pulpito fulget luce veritatis, et diradiat evan-
gelicum verbum pariter universis. Clamat, Surge qui dormis, et ex-
surge a mortuis, et illuminabit te Christus." (34, b).

90 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLH.
liber, tamen res non conficitur nisi medio sacramento
ministrato a ministris Dei, quod testis efficax simul
et divinae et humanae voluntatis remittendi. Hinc
sacramentorum sacramenta ratio ipsa sacramentifi-
cans Deushomo ille noster Jesus Christus, qui jacuit1
sacramenta inter Deum et homines, testes et foedera
coeuntium voluntatum, qui remisit ipse et relaxavit
peccatorum vincula, etiam remissionis peccatorum et
reconciliationis hominum sibi, quos vult Deus recon-
ciliari, instituit sacramentum ; voluitque divinam vo
luntatem in homine et humanam voluntatem in Deo
opportuna ratione consignari. Itaque post resur-
rectionem suam, ut testatur Joannes, mittens dis-
John xx. 22, cipulos suos legatos, " Insufflavit- et dixit eis :
Accipite Spiritum sanctum," cujus sacramentum
erat flatus ille ; et addidit, " Quorum remiseritis
peccata, remittentur eis, et quorum retinueritis, re-
tenta sunt." Retinentur vero quae non remittuntur;
non remittuntur, quae non remittit homo ille qui est in
vinculis peccatorum, agnoscens et confitens peccata
sua. Quae vero ille agnoscit et confitetur, audiens
sacerdos, medius inter Deum et hominem, qui intel-
ligit ex voluntate Dei hominis illius voluntatem se
solvere, quot soluta et corifessa peccata audit, illam
solutionemcontestatur, et hominis voluntatem in Deo et
Dei voluntatem in homine, et remissionempeccatorum
sacerdotali officio tum signis tum verbis comprobat.
Quae autem non remittit ille peccator, nee confitetur,
ilia sacerdos non remittit. Hoc certissimum est :
omnis remissio primum est a Deo, cujus solius est
peccata remittere : qui monet hominem ut se solvat
1 Jacuit.] Leg. jecit.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIiE. 91
a peccatis ; qui vult ut, intercedente sacerdote, humi-
liatione, confessione, impositione manuum, invocatione
sanctae Trinitatis, sacris Christi verbis recitatis (vide
licet, "Remittuntur tibi peccata tua,") mysterium
divinae voluntatis testificetur, ut inter Deum et
homines qui respondent divinae voluntati, sacramenti
testimonium exstet. Hoc sacramentum reconcilia
tionis et remissionis non inepte vocari potest; qua,
homo benigna Dei gratia reconciliatur Deo; quod
recentior ecclesia vocat poenitentiae sacramentum. In
quo vides ex istis verbis quidnam rationis habet, quod
inter Deum et hominem se solventem in Deo a pec
catis intermedius est sacerdos, et audiens, et remis-
sionem auditorum a Deo contestans ; et quid sit illud
" Quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur ; quorum
retinueritis, retinentur." Quae non solvit ipse homo,
retenta sunt; et sacerdos contestatur retenta esse,
quia ea remissa esse non contestatur. Vult in terris
Deus testificationem eorum quae in coelis fiunt ab ipso
erga homines ; quod sacerdotali munere exhibetur.
f Detts, remittens vincula peccatorum.
<! Sacebdos, medius sacramento confirmans.
(.Homines, se solventes in Deo.
Quaecunque alligaverint et solverint saltern ministri
fideles in Deo, qui intelligunt quid Deus agit in
hominibus, ea ligantur et solvuntur in coelis. Qui
(ut docet Corinthios Paulus) apostoli, sacerdotes, et
spiritalior ecclesiae pars, "ministri" duntaxat sunt 1 Cor. iv. 1.
"Christi, et dispensatores ministeriorum Dei;" in
quibus requiritur fidelitas maxima, alioquin quod
agunt non confit in ccelis. Audire confessionem
debet sacerdos, et sentire poenitudinem, quae est tam
necessaria, ut ab ea reconciliationis sacramentum

92 DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE.
cognomen habeat. In evangelio Lucae jubet Salvator,
remittatur peccatori quotienscunque modo poenitet.
Luke xviii. 3,4. Verba illius haec sunt: "Si peccaverit in te frater
tuus, increpa ilium ; et si poenitentiam egerit, dimitte
illi. Et si septies in die peccaverit in te, et septies in
die con versus fuerit ad te, dicens 'Poenitet me,'
isai. xiiii. 26. dimitte illi." De confessione spiritus Isaie ait : " Die
tu iniquitates tuas ut justificeris." Recompensatio in
contrario semper debet esse ; ut pro malo satisfactio
fiat in bono, et ut contrarium contrarium vincat. Ava-
ritia redimenda est liberalitate et eleemosyna; luxuria
et crapula continentia et jejunio; negligentia Dei ora-
tione assidua, ut injustitia tua Deus misereatur tui.
Item pro voluptate in omnibus, in corpore dolor feren-
dus est ; ut dolor et cruciatus carnis delectationem era-
dicet ; quern dolor em vocat Paulus " compassionem."
Rom. viii. 17, "Si tamen compatimur," inquit, "ut glorificemur."
" Non sunt condignae compassiones ad futuram
gloriam." Omnia haec ad sacramentum reconcilia
tionis pertinent, ut redeamus in gratiam et in eccle
siam introeamus, simusque in ea aliquod membrum
factum Christi in sanctificato corpore suo et jam
illuminato baptismate ; quod lumen sacramento remis-
sionis recuperamus, quod est lumen fidei, ut con-
spectis sacris Dei eis credamus, et vivamus pro
ratione sacrorum.

IX.
Baptismus autem (ut tradit Dionysius), datus a sacer-
dotibus, et illuminat purgatos et fidem dat; hoc est
fidem a Deo infusam consignat.
Confirmatio vero testatur Spiritus sancti firmam

18.

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESIAE. 93
dationem. Hoc sacramentum potest vocari donorum
Spiritus sancta. Nam est sacramentum donationis
Spiritus, inde tractum et institutum, quod Samariae
baptizatis erat postea ab apostolis missus qui eis im-
positis manibus daret Spiritum sanctum ; alioquin in Acts viii. 17.
ecclesia non censerentur.
Sacramentum communionis in communi pabulo
carnis et sanguinis, quod sacramentum conjuncti et
unitatis est, confirmatorum et spiritificatorum est in
Christo in summa, unitate coaltio et connutritio.
Vocamur enim ut purgemur, illuminemur, et perfici-
amur spiritu, connutriamur, convivamus, compug-
nemus, convincamus, conglorificemur. Haec vis
charitatis spiritalium hominum.
Postremo extrema unctio (quae quondam fiebat
etiam cadaveribus,1 nunc autem in extrema vita,
quatenus conjectura suspicari possumus), sacramen
tum est perfecta laboris ac militiae et purgationis
afflicti corporis, et affert in aegritudine praesentiam et
consolationem Spiritus sancti. De qua Jacobus
locutus est hisce verbis : "Tristatur aliquis vestrum? James v. 1.3,

1 Cadaveribus.] Eccl. Hier. c. vii. § 3. " Exacta salutatione, de-
functo infundit oleum pontifex. Memento autem ut in prima sancta
regeneratione ante sacrum baptisma, prima sancti symboli participatio
traditur initiando, post priorem omnem abjectam vestem, sancti chris-
matis oleum : nunc, in fine omnium, defuncto itidem infunditur oleum.
Atqui tunc quidem olei unctio baptisandum evocabat ad sacra certamina ;
nunc autem infusum oleum signat eum qui defunctus est eadem sacra
exegisse certamina, sicque fuisse consummatum."
Bingham, Origines Eccl. (1722), vol. x. p. 70, after mentioning
that " The Psalmody and Prayers are largely described by the Author
under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite," adds that " The two last
ceremonies of giving the kiss of peace, and anointing with oyl, are in a
manner peculiar to this Author, and the former of them expressly for
bidden in some other Kules of Burial."

94

DE SACRAMENTIS ECCLESLE.

oret. iEquo animo est? psallat. Infirmatur quis
in vobis ? inducat presbyteros ecclesiae, et orent super
eum, ungentes eum oleo in nomine Domini." J
Crebra est unctio in ecclesia, quae est crebra admo-
nitio frequentis Spiritus sancti; cujus adventum,
operationem, effectum, sacramenta denotant creden-
tibus, in eorum salutem sempiternam.

Vir.

'-Uxor.

/Ordo (.Matrimonium. PcenitentiaBaptismus Confirmatio
Eucharistia

Purgatio. Illuminatio. Perfectio.
Coaltio.

i

Extrema Unctio. Consummatio.

fTraditus a
feT^deoa-
erameiuorum ecciesite , n0 Sancti
I Pauli Lon-
Idon.

1 Domini.] Dean Colet's school, from which came Milton, maintain
ing, in his Tetrachordon, doctrines concerning marriage as different as
can be imagined from those of its Founder, sent forth also Whitaker,
who thus replies to the defence of Extreme Unction, as based on the
precept of St. James : " Oleo utantur, qui possunt segrotis sanitatem
precibusimpetrare: qui non possunt, abstineat inani symbolo." (Quoted
by Bengel, on St. James v. 14).
It is with a comment on this rite that Jewell ends his Treatise of the
Sacraments ; and his closing words are not so unlike those of Colet,
but that they may serve for a conclusion here. " Thus doth the Church
of God instruct all men to live, and to die, and to bee in readinesse.
Thus are the sicke among us anointed with the inner and invisible oile
of the mercy of God. Thus are they put in mind to have the oile of
faith and of a good conscience, and that their lamps may ever be burn
ing ; that so they may enter in with the bridegrome ; that the day-
spring from on high may visit their hearts ; and that it may be said
unto them, ' Come, yee blessed of my Father, inherit ye the kingdome
prepared for you from the foundations of the world.'"

APPENDIX.

Page 3, Note 2.
|INCE the above note was written, I have
received an obliging communication from the
Kev.W. M. Snell, M.A., Librarian of Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge, respecting the
treatises by Colet, in Meghen's handwriting, which are
there preserved. The volume containing them is numbered
CCCLV of the Parker Collection, and has the following
marginal note on the first page : — " Hic liber scriptus
manu Amanuensis Johis Colett, ut videre licet in libro
magno suarum translationum Matthsei et Marci script.
manu Petri Meghen, monoculi, teutonis, natione Brabantini,
ut ipsemet testatur in fine Marci Evangelistse, Anno 1509,
8. Maii." The writing, Mr. Snell informs me, is a very
formal print-hand, and not at all like that of the School MS.
This being so, it may be thought that my opinion as to
the School Manuscript being Meghen's writing is a mere
guess. I cannot indeed claim much more value for it ; but
there are still one or two considerations which to me seem
to countenance it. In the Illumination at fol. 6 of the MS.
Dd. vii. 3, the inscription on the label over the kneeling
figure of Colet is in a small hand, not unlike that of the
School MS. This is not much to judge from ; but it is the

96 APPENDIX.
only specimen, I believe, of the kind in the volume. An
extract from Polydore Vergil, on the blank leaf at the end,
is evidently by some other pen. The inscription on the
label is mentioned by Tho. Smith, in 1661, and I am not
aware that there is any reason for thinking it a later addi
tion. In any case, the occurrence of the peculiar blanks,
which have been referred to, seems to me irreconcileable
with the opinion that the School MS. is in Colet's own hand ;
not to add that the writing is firmer and more angular,
more full of contractions, and apparently more like th^t of ja
practised scribe, than any which I have seen in the Cam
bridge MS. Gg. iv. 26.

FINIS.

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