and you seem to take away the only reason for their invention. They are, therefore, properly called signs: for, according to St. Augustine, a sign, besides what it presents to the senses, is a medium through which we arrive at the knowledge of something else: from a footstep, for instance, which we see traced on the ground, we instantly infer that some one whose footstep appears has passed. [1]
A Sacrament, therefore, is clearly to be numbered amongst those things which have been instituted as signs: it makes known to us by external resemblance, that which God, by his invisible power, accomplishes in our souls. [2] To illustrate what we have said by an example; baptism, for instance, which is administered by external ablution, accompanied with certain solemn words, signifies that by the power of the Holy Ghost, all the interior stains and defilements of sin are washed away, and that the soul is enriched and adorned with the admirable gift of heavenly justification; whilst, at the same time, the baptismal ablution, as we shall hereafter explain in its proper place, accomplishes in the soul, that of which it is externally significant. That a Sacrament is to be numbered amongst signs is clearly inferred from Scripture. Speaking of circumcision, a Sacrament of the old law which was given to Abraham, the father of all believers, [3] the Apostle, in his epistle to the Corinthians, says; " and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of the faith which he had;" [4] and in another place; " All we," says he, " who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death:" [5] words which justify the inference that baptism signifies, to use the words of the same Apostle, that " we are buried together with him by baptism into death." [6] To know that the Sacraments are signs, is important to the faithful. This knowledge will lead them more readily to believe, that what they signify, contain, and effectuate, is holy and august; and recognising their sanctity, they will be more disposed to venerate and adore the beneficence of God displayed towards us in their institution.
We now come to explain the words, " sacred thing," which constitute the second part of the definition. To render this explanation satisfactory we must enter somewhat more minutely into the accurate and acute reasoning of St. Augustine on the variety of signs. [7]
Of signs some are called natural, which besides making themselves known to us, also convey a knowledge of something else; an effect, as we have already said, common to all signs. Smoke, for instance, is a natural sign from which we immediately infer the existence of fire. It is called a natural sign, because it implies the existence of fire, not by arbitrary institution, but by its
