Sacraments

The subject matter of all the Divine Scriptures is the works of man's restoration. For there are two works in which all that has been done is contained. The first is the work of foundation; the second is the work of restoration. The work of foundation is that whereby those things which were not came into being. The work of restoration is that whereby those things which had been impaired were made better. Therefore, the work of foundation is the creation of the world with all its elements. The work of restoration is the Incarnation of the Word with all its sacraments, both those which have gone before from the beginning of time, and those which come after, even to the end of the world.

And although in a multitude as vast as this the kind of arms differ in the sacraments and observance of the peoples preceding and following, yet all are really serving the one king and following the one banner; all are pursuing the one enemy and are being crowned by the one victory. In all these writings the works of restoration are considered, with which the whole intent of the Divine Scriptures is concerned. Therefore, it is rightly believed to be superior to all other writings insofar as the subject matter is the more dignified and the more sublime with which its consideration and discourse are concerned.

Regarding those waters which are above heaven, Scripture has not said that they were gathered into one place, as in the case of those which were under heaven. Great are the sacraments in all these matters, and not to be explained in the present summarized treatment: that the waters which are under heaven are gathered together into one place; that the dry land appears and brings forth plants, and that at the same time the very spaces of the air finally through the contraction of the dark mist are made clear, and that the courses of the waters are scattered everywhere for irrigating and moistening the earth through its body; and that nothing was done without cause. Therefore, the works of foundation are those which were made at the beginning of the world in the six days; but the works of restoration, those which from the beginning of the world are made in six ages for the renewal of man.

And to define these briefly, we say that the works of restoration are the Incarnation of the Word, and those things which the Word with all His sacraments performed in the flesh and through the flesh, whether those sacraments which preceded from the beginning of the world to figure the Incarnation itself, or those which follow after, even to the end of the world, to announce and declare it. About all these Divine Scripture speaks, and about these and for all these Divine Scripture was made.

Therefore, three things occur here for consideration in the first place on the restoration of man: time, place, remedy. The time is the present life from the beginning of the world even to the end of the world. The place is this world. The remedy consists in three things: in faith, in the sacraments, in good works. The time is long, lest man be taken unprepared. The place is rough that the prevaricator may be punished. The remedy is efficacious that the weak may be healed.

And so then from the very beginning of the world He proposed to man the sacraments of his salvation with which He might sign him with the expectation of future sanctification, that whoever might receive these with right faith and firm hope on account of obedience to divine institution, even though placed under the yoke might arrive at participation in freedom. And so He proposed His edict informing and instructing man, that, whosoever might elect to await Him as Saviour and Liberator, would necessarily prove the desire for this same election of his in the reception of His sacraments. The devil also proposed his sacraments with which to bind his own to himself, in order that the more clearly he separated them from those who refused his rule the more securely he might possess them.