THE REASONS OF GRACE BEING GIVEN IN A SACRAMENTAL FORM.

operate with Him." Now, had His grace remained purely invisible, and had it not been bound up with the Sacramental forms which He has instituted, the gift of it would have been taken out of the reach of any power of choice on our part; it would have been given or not given, but the choice would have been the choice of God, and not ours. Now with God there is no respect of persons, and it would be the blasphemy of Calvin and Jansenius to say, That God would choose some

for grace and others for reprobation." In order, therefore, that grace might become subject to and within the reach of our choice, which it would not have been had it remained wholly invisible, our Lord has been pleased to give to His grace such a Sacramental form or body, as would make it subject to our choice, and in which the power would be given to us, to accept or to reject it. In the Holy Sacraments of the Church, then, God justifies Himself that He has no respect of persons, and shows that he makes the general offer of His Divine Grace to all, and that in the Holy Sacraments of His Church, to which all can have free access, He gives to all without the least favour or partiality, the option of receiving their share in the Redemption which He has purchased for the entire fallen race.

But if the institution of Sacraments is in itself a

ST. THOMAS OF AQUIN'S REASONS FOR THE SACRAMENTS BEING SEVEN IN NUMBER.

66

proof both of the wisdom of God, in adapting His gifts to our condition, and of his impartial justice in making the same offer of His grace to all alike; the circumstance of the Sacraments of His Church being seven in number, is also a proof of His wisdom. The Sacraments of the Church," writes St. Thomas, are designed to train and to perfect the Christian in those things which pertain to the religion of a Christian life, and to the worship of God;" and with this view it is suitable and fitting that they should be seven in number. The life of grace has a certain conformity with the natural life. In the natural life a man comes to the perfection of his nature in two distinct ways (I.), as regards his own person individually, and (II.) as regards the society in which he lives, for man is by nature a social animal. In his own person individually, a man is also said to advance to perfection in two ways (1): in the first and most direct of which, he acquires being and growth in strength; and in the second, which is the less direct (2), when he removes out of the way whatever is prejudicial to life.

In the first and most direct of these two ways, there are three stages: (I.) That of birth, when a man begins to exist and to have life; and answering to this in the life of is Baptism, which is the spiritual new birth.

grace

THE OBEDIENCE OF THE SECOND ADAM.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS,

OR,

The visible forms of Divine Grace.

THE DIVINE HIGH PRIEST RESTORES TO US AND PRESERVES US IN POSSESSION OF THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE OF GRACE, THROUGH THE USE OF THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF HIS CHURCH.

THE first Adam had once in his own hands, the power to have transmitted the gift which he had received to his children, but he threw his power away and could never recover it. The second Adam was obedient to death, even the death of the Cross, and has received the same power, which He has not thrown away, but now holds in His own hands. To Him, therefore, we must come to receive the gift, as many of us as are drawn to Him.

Now if the power to give be in the hands of the Second Adam, by reason of the victory which He obtained by Himself alone, it is plainly not for those who must come to Him to receive His gift, to dictate