Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Sacraments in General · Book II: On the Effect, Number, and Ceremonies of the Sacraments
Chapter 23: What the heretics think of the number of the Sacraments
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. III, De Sacramentis in Genere, Book II: On the Effect, Number, and Ceremonies of the Sacraments. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Controversy V: On the number and order of the Sacraments. Controversy V, which is on the number of the Sacraments, will have four parts. For first we shall set forth the opinions of the heretics. Second, we shall prove the truth of the Catholic Church. Third, we shall refute the arguments of the adversaries. Fourth, we shall add, by way of appendix, something on the order of the Sacraments.
What the heretics think of the number of the Sacraments. As to the first, the adversaries dissent much among themselves about the number of the Sacraments; and to all of them Luther paved the way in the book On the Babylonian captivity. For in that little book, published in the year '20, he taught many things. At the beginning of the book he says that there is only one Sacrament, if we must speak according to the use of Scripture. Yet in the same place he says that the seven Sacraments must be denied, and three set down for the time: Baptism, the Bread, and Penance. At the end of the book he says that, if we would speak strictly, there are two Sacraments, Baptism and the Bread. In the middle of the book, chapter On Confirmation, he says that he does not condemn the seven Sacraments, but only denies that they can be proved from the Scriptures. But this does not well cohere with the beginning of the book, where he says that the seven must be denied and three set down; for it is one thing to condemn, another to deny the seven Sacraments. From this inconstancy of Luther were born the various opinions of the Lutherans and other heretics, which I shall briefly enumerate.
The first, then, is that there is only one Sacrament, though there are several sacramental signs. So Luther in the place cited. But he had no followers in this opinion; for all the rest set down more, and think they set them down according to the use of Scripture. The second opinion is that of those who number only two Sacraments properly so called, Baptism and the Eucharist. This, as I said, Luther indicated in the book On the Babylonian captivity. The same thought Philip in the Commonplaces of the years '21 and '22, chapter On signs, where he acknowledges only these two. Likewise Illyricus in the Antwerp Confession, chapter 11 On the Sacraments, and chapter 18 On Absolution; Nicholas Selnecker in the second part of his Paedagogia, chapter On the Sacraments; and Kemnitz in the second part of the Examen, chapter On the number of the Sacraments, page 12 and following. The third opinion is that of those who number three Sacraments, Baptism, the Eucharist, and Penance. This is the more common, and more received among the Lutherans. For, in the first place, Luther, although he strictly would have only two, in the book On the Babylonian captivity yet also said there were three in the same place, and this he always afterward repeated, as in the year '23 in the book to the Praguers On instituting ministers, and in the year '34 in the book On the private Mass, and finally in the year '45, which was the last but one of his life, in the assertions against the Louvanians. For thus he has in assertion 35: “Penance, with the virtue of the keys of the Absolvers, we willingly confess to be a Sacrament; for it has a promise, and the faith of the remission of sins for Christ's sake.” The same have almost all the Catechisms of the Lutherans, as the Catechism of Philip, of Brentius, and others. Likewise their ritual books, or agenda, and finally the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, article 13.
Where it is to be noted that Illyricus and Kemnitz cannot be defended from perjury and defection from the Augsburg Confession. For, as Tileman Heshusius reports in the book On the presence of the Body of Christ in the supper, all among the Lutherans who are promoted to degrees or to the pastorate swear to the words of the Confession and Apology. But Illyricus in the Apology of the Antwerp Confession chapter 18, and Kemnitz in the second part of the Examen pages 44 and 903, answer that the Apology of the Confession called Penance a Sacrament in a broad manner, not because it is truly and properly a Sacrament. But the solution is not valid; for the Apology has these words: “If we call Sacraments the rites which have the command of God, and to which is added the promise of grace, it is easy to judge which are properly Sacraments.” And a little later, applying the definition: “Truly, then, they are Sacraments — Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Absolution, which is the Sacrament of Penance; for these rites have the command of God and the promise of grace.” So there. Besides, Kemnitz only for this reason will not have Absolution to be properly a Sacrament, because it has not a rite commanded by God. But the Apology professes that Absolution has a rite commanded by God; therefore, according to the opinion of the Apology, Absolution is a most true Sacrament.
The fourth opinion is that of Zwingli in the book On true and false religion. For in the chapter On the Sacraments he teaches that there are two Sacraments, Baptism and the Supper; yet in the chapter On Matrimony he adds also Matrimony. It is true indeed that Matrimony is not willingly called a Sacrament by Zwingli, but the cause is not that he thinks the definition of a Sacrament does not agree with Matrimony, but because he fears lest by the word Sacrament the dignity of Matrimony be obscured and defiled; for he says that the word of Matrimony, or marriage, is much more illustrious than that of Sacrament. The fifth opinion is Calvin's, who numbers three Sacraments, but not the same as Luther and Zwingli; for he will have the Sacraments to be Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Ordination. For although book 4 of the Institutes chapter 18 sections 19 and 20 he says there are only two Sacraments, Baptism and the Supper, yet a little later, chapter 19 section 31, as also before, chapter 14 section 20, he numbers Ordination too among the true Sacraments, and admonishes that, when he says there are only two, he speaks of the ordinary Sacraments common to the whole Church. Hence also in the Antidote to the Council of Trent, session 7 canon 1, he rejects only four Sacraments from the number of the Sacraments: Confirmation, Penance, Extreme Unction, and Matrimony. And accordingly he admits the other three. The sixth opinion, composed of Lutheranism and Calvinism, is that of others, who receive four Sacraments: Baptism, the Supper, Penance, and Ordination. This is Philip's, who, although with Luther he first set down only two Sacraments, and afterward three, yet in the Commonplaces published in the years '36 and '52 and '58, which was the last edition, has these words in the chapter On the number of the Sacraments: “It greatly pleases me that Ordination too be added, as they call it — that is, the vocation to the ministry of the Gospel — because this too is enjoined by the Gospel command, and a promise is added,” etc.; and through the whole chapter he proves at length that Ordination is a Sacrament, and accordingly that there are four Sacraments. The same opinion Lucas Lossius has in his Catechism published in the year '57; for in that which he had published in the year '54 he set down only three. The seventh opinion, composed of Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Zwinglianism, not openly but obscurely, was Philip's. For in the Commonplaces last published in the year '58, although he makes only four Sacraments, yet he inclined greatly to adding a fifth, that is, Matrimony, with Zwingli; for he confesses that Matrimony is a sign of a sacred thing, and has a divine command, and has an annexed promise. He says only one thing is lacking to it, that it was before Christ. But this ought not to have hindered him from making Matrimony a Sacrament; for the Baptism of John, according to his own opinion, was a most true Sacrament, and the same as our Baptism, and yet was before Christ. As, then, he will have Baptism to be a Sacrament because received and confirmed by Christ, why not for the same reason Matrimony too?
The eighth opinion is that there are six Sacraments. This Lindanus in the analytic tables attributes to William Postel in his Panthenosia; who yet afterward died a Catholic. The ninth opinion is that there are seven Sacraments. For although we by the Catholic faith hold that there are seven Sacraments, yet to them this opinion can be an opinion, not faith; for he who is a heretic in one article simply lacks faith. This, then, is the opinion of some Lutherans, who were pleased by what Luther had said at the beginning, that he did not condemn the seven Sacraments, though in the same place he also said that he denied the seven Sacraments. John Sleidan writes, book 20 of the History, that two years after the death of Luther — that is, in the year '48 — in a certain conventicle of Leipzig it was determined that Confirmation and Extreme Unction are rites conferring grace, and indeed that the seven Sacraments are to be received. In which conventicle were present many Theologians of Wittenberg and Leipzig, and with them Philip Melanchthon; and then first these soft Lutherans began to be so called, as Surius writes in his history of the year '48. Whence Matthias Illyricus, in the book which is entitled Exhortation of Illyricus to constancy in the acknowledged religion of Jesus Christ and the Augsburg Confession, complains that in the Leipzig Interim (for so it is called) the seven Sacraments of the Papists are restored. And in the preface of the seventh Century he does not doubt to call the leaders of the soft, or political, Lutherans Heresiarchs.
From these things it is lawful to gather, first, that there was a wonderful inconstancy of Luther and Philip, the chief fathers of the Lutherans, and that in a most grave matter. Second, that among the adversaries there cannot be a true Church. For the chief mark of the true Church among them is consent in the doctrine of the Sacraments; for so Luther has it in the book On the marks of the Church, and the Augsburg Confession, and the Apology article 7. But they agree so that hitherto they have not been able to enumerate the Sacraments by common consent. But if each of them draw the Church to himself alone, it is a marvel if he be not ashamed of his fewness. Hence also, third, it is gathered that heresies of this kind cannot long last. For every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate. Whence Luther himself noted this on Psalm 5: “No heretics,” he says, “have been overcome by force or by craft, but by mutual dissension; nor does Christ fight with them otherwise than by sending among them a spirit of giddiness and dissension, as among the Sichemites, Judges 9, and among the workmen of the tower of Babel, Genesis 11, and in the new law, among the Arians, Donatists, and Pelagians.” So he. Which same Hilary long before wrote, book 7 On the Trinity.
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CAPUT XXIII. 479 CONTROVERSIA V. De numero et ordine Sacramentorum. Controversia Y, quae est de numero Sa¬ cramentorum, quatuor habebit partes. Nam Primo exponemus haereticorum sententias. Secundo probabimus Ecclesiae Catholicae ve¬ ritatem. Tertio refellemus argumenta adver¬ sariorum. Quarto addemus per modum ap¬ pendicis aliquid de ordine Sacramentorum. CATCJT XXIII. Quid haeretici sentiant de numero Sacra¬ mentorum. Quoad Primum, adversarii inter se mul¬ tum dissentiunt de numero Sacramentorum, quibus omnibus viam stravit Lutherus in lib. de captiv. Babylon. Nam in eo libello anno 20 edito , multa docuit. Initio libri dicit, unum tantum esse Sacramentum , si secun¬ dum usum Scripturae loquendum sit. Ibidem tamen dicit, neganda esse septem Sacramen¬ ta, et tria pro tempore ponenda, Baptismum, Panem, et Poenitentiam. In fine libri dicit, si rigide loqui velimus, duo esse Sacramenta, Baptismum ct Panem. In medio libri cap. de Confirmatione dicit, se non damnare sep¬ tem Sacramenta, sed tantum negare ea ex Scripturis probari posse. At non bene hoc cohaeret cum initio libri, ubi dicit, neganda esse septem , et tria ponenda : non enim aliud est damnare, aliud negare septem Sa¬ cramenta. Ex hac inconstantia Lutheri natae sunt variae Lutheranorum atque aliorum hae¬ reticorum sententiae , quas breviter enume¬ rabo. Prima igitur est, unum tantum esse Sacra¬ mentum, quamvis plura sint Sacramentalia signa. Ita Lutherus loco citato. Sed non ha¬ buit in hac opinione sectatores : omnes enim alii plura ponunt, et secundum usum Scrip¬ turae ea ponere se putant. Secunda opinio est eorum, qui tantum duo numerant Sacramenta proprie dicta, Baptis¬ mum et Eucharistiam. Ilanc, ut dixi, Luthe¬ rus indicavit, in lib. de capt. Babyl. Idem sensit Philippus in locis anni 21. ct22. cap. de signis, ubi solum ista duo agnoscit. Item Illyricus in Confessione Antuerpiensi, cap. 11. de Sacramentis, et cap. 18. de Absolu¬ tione. Nicolaus Selncccerus in 2. par. suae paedagogiee, cap. de Sacramentis, et Kem- nitius in 2. par. Examinis, cap. de numero Sacramentorum, pag. 12 ct sequentibus. Tertio opinio est eorum, qui tria Sacra¬ menta numerant, Baptismum, Eucharistiam et Poenitentiam. Haec est communior, et ma¬ gis recepta apud Lutheranos. Nam in primis Lutherus etiamsi rigide duo tantum esse vo¬ luerit, in lib. de capt. Babyl. tamen etiam tria esse dixit ibidem, et hoc semper postea repetivit, ut anno 23. in lib. ad Pragenses de instituendis ministris, et anno 34. in lib. de Missa privata, et denique anno 45. qui fuit penultimus vitae ipsius, in assertionibus contra Lovanienses. Sic enim habet assertio 35 : « Poenitentiam cum virtute clavium Ab¬ solventium Sacramentum libenter confite¬ mur : habet enim promissionem, et fidem remissionis peccatorum propter Christum. » Idem habent fere omnes Catechismi Luthe¬ ranorum, ut Catechismus Philippi, Brenlii, et aliorum. Item libri rituales, seu agenda} ipsorum, et denique Apologia Confessionis Augustana}, art. 13. Ubi notandum est, Illyricum, et Kemni- tium non posse defendi a perjurio, et defec¬ tione a Confessione Augustana. Nam ut re- fertTilmannus Heshusius, in lib. de praten¬ tia Corporis Christi in coena. jurant omnes apud Lutheranos in verba Confessionis et Apologia:, qui promoventur ad gradus, vel pastoratum. Sed respondent Illyricus in Apo¬ logia Confessionis Antuerpiensis, cap. 18. et Kemnitius in 2. part. Examinis pag. 44 et 903. Apologiam Confessionis largo modo ap¬ pellasse Poenitentiam Sacramentum, non quod sit vere et proprie Sacramentum. At solutio non valet; nam Apologia habet hsec verba : « Si Sacramenta vocamus ritus, qui habent Dei mandatum, et quibus est addita promissio gratia}, facile est judicare, qua} sint proprie Sacramenta. » Et paulo post applicans definitionem : '« Vere igitur, in¬ quit, sunt Sacramenta, 'Baptismus, Ccena Do- ~mini, Absolutio, qua: est Sacramentum Poe¬ nitentiae, ; nam hi ritus habent mandatum Dei, et promissionem gratia:. » Hcec ibi. Praeterea ideo solum Kemnitius non vult ■480 LIBEM II. Absolutionem esse proprie Sacramentum, quia non habet ritum a Deo praeceptum. At Apologia profitetur Absolutionem habere ri¬ tum a Deo praeceptum : igitur ex sententia Apologiae Absolutio est verissimum Sacra¬ mentum. Quarta opinio est Zwinglii in lib. de vera et falsa religione. Nam cap. de Sacramentis, duo esse docet Sacramenta, Baptismum, et Coenam, tamen cap. de Matrimonio, addit etiam Matrimonium. Verum est quidem non libenter a Zvvinglio Matrimonium vocari Sa¬ cramentum, sed causa non est, quod putet, Sacramenti definitionem non convenire Ma¬ trimonio, sed quia timet, ne Sacramenti vo¬ cabulo obscuretur et inquinetur dignitas Ma¬ trimonii : dicit enim esse vocabulum multo illustrius Matrimonii, seu conjugii, quam Sa¬ cramenti. Quinta opinio est Calvini, qui tria Sacra¬ menta numerat, sed. non eadem cum Lu- thero et Zwinglio : vult enim Sacramenta esse Baptismum, Coenam Domini, et Ordina¬ tionem. Etsi enim lib. IV Institut. c. 18. §. 19 et 20. duo tantum esse dicat Sacramenta, Baptismum et Coenam, tamen paulo post, c. 19. § 31. sicut et antea, cap. 14. § 20. etiam Ordinationem inter vera Sacramenta nume¬ rat, ac monet, se, cum tantum duo esse di¬ cit, loqui de Sacramentis ordinariis et toti Ecclesiae communibus. Hinc etiam in Miti- doto Concilii Tridentini, sess. VII, can. 1. quatuor tantum Sacramenta rejicit a numero Sacramentorum; Confirmationem, Poeniten¬ tiam, Unctionem extremam, et Matrimo¬ nium. Proinde tria reliqua admittit. Sexta opinio composita ex Lutheranismo et Calvinismo, est aliorum, qui quatuor Sa¬ cramenta recipiunt, Baptismum, Coenam, Poenitentiam, et Ordinationem. Haec cstPhi- lippi, qui licet cum Luthero primo posuerit, duo tantum Sacramenta, et postea tria : ta¬ men in locis editis anno 36 et 52 et 58, quae fuit ultima editio, habet ha?c verba in cap. de numero Sacramentorum : «Milii maxime placet etiam addi Ordinationem, ut vocant, id est, vocationem ad ministerium Evange- lii; quia haec etiam mandato Evangelico praecipitur, et addita est promissio etc.» ac toto cap. fuse probat Ordinationem esse Sa¬ cramentum, ac proinde quatuor esse Sacra¬ menta. Eamdem sententiam habet Lucas Lossius in Catechismo, edito anno 57, nam in eo, quem ediderat anno 54, tantum tria posuerat. Septima opinio composita ex Lutheranis¬ mo, Calvinismo et Zwinglianismo non aperte sed obscure fuit Philippi. Nam in locis ulti¬ mo editis anno 58, licet quatuor tantum fa¬ ciat Sacramenta, tamen propendebat maxi¬ me ad quintum addendum, id est, Matrimo¬ nium cum Zwinglio : Fatetur enim Matri¬ monium esse signum rei sacra;, et habere mandatum divinum, et habere annexam promissionem. Unum tantum dicit ei deesse, quod fuerit ante Christum. At hoc non de¬ buit eum impedire, quominus Matrimonium faceret Sacramentum ; nam Baptismus Joau- nis ex sententia ipsius fuit verissimum Sa¬ cramentum, et idem cum nostro Baptismo, et tamen fuit ante Christum. Sicut igitur Baptismum vult esse Sacramentum, quia a Christo receptum et confirmatum, cur non eadem ratione et Matrimonium ? Octava opinio est, sex esse Sacramenta. Hanc tribuit Lindanus in tabulis analyticis Guliclmo Postello in sua Panthenosia : qui tamen vir postea Catholice obiit. Nona opinio est, septem esse Sacramenta. Licet enim fide Catholica, nos teneamus sep¬ tem esse Sacramenta, illis tamen haec sen¬ tentia, opinio, non fides esse potest : qui enim in uno articulo haereticus est, fide sim¬ pliciter caret. Est igitur opinio haec aliquo¬ rum Lutheranorum; quibus placuit, quod Lutherus initio dixerat, se non damnare septem Sacramenta; licet ibidem etiam di¬ xerit, se negare septem Sacramenta. Scribit JoannesSlcidanus, lib. XX hist. biennio post obitum Lutheri, id est, anno 48, in quodam Lipsiensi Conciliabulo determinatum fuisse, Confirmationem et Extremam unctionem esse ritus conferentes gratiam, atque adeo septem Sacramenta recipienda esse. In quo Conciliabulo interfuisse Theologos multos Wittembergcnses, ac Lipsienses, et cum iis Philippum Melanchthonem ; ac tum primum coepisse hos molles Luthcranos appellari, scribit Surius in sua historia anni 48. Unde Matthias Illyricus in libro qui inscribitur, Adhortatio Illyrici, ad constantiam in agnita Jcsu Chi isti religione, et Augustana Confes¬ sione ; quaeritur, quod in Lipsiensi Interim (sic enim appellatur) septem Papistarum Sa¬ cramenta restituantur. Et praefatione septi¬ mae Centuria?, Haeresiarchas appellare non dubitat principes mollium, seu politicorum Lutheranorum. Ex his colligere licet primo, miram fuisse inconstantiam Lutheri et Philippi, praeci- puorum patrum Lutheranorum, idque in re gravissima. Secundo, non posse apud ad¬ versarios veram Ecclesiam esse. Nam nota pnecipua verse Ecclesia; apud eos est con¬ sensus in doctrina Sacramentorum. Ita enim habet Lutherus in lib. de notis Ecclesiae, et Confessione Augustana, et Apologia art. 7. Ipsi autem ita conveniunt, ut adhuc non po¬ tuerint Sacramenta communi consensu enu¬ merare. Quod si quisque eorum ad se solum trahat Ecclesiam, mirum, si non pudeat eum sua; paucitatis. Ilinc etiam Tertio, colligitur, non posse diu durare ejusmodi haereses. Nam omne regnum in seipso divisum, deso¬ labitur. Unde Lutherus ipse hoc annotavit in Psalm. V : « Nulli, inquit, haeretici victi sunt vi, aut astu, sed mutua dissensione ; nec aliter cum eis pugnat Christus, quam misso inter eos spiritu vertiginis et dissen¬ sionis, sicut inter Sichimitas, Jud. IX, et in¬ ter Babylonicae turris operarios, Genes. XI, et in nova lege, inter Arianos, Donatistas et Pelagianos. » Haec ille. Quod idem multo ante scripsit Hilarius, lib. VII de Trinitate.