It is also pre-eminently, the property of these mystical signs, instituted by Almighty God, to signify, by divine appointment, more than one thing, and this applies to all the Sacraments. All declare not only our sanctity and justification, but also two other things most intimately connected with both the passion of our Lord, which is the source of our sanctification, and eternal life to which, as to its end, our sanctification should be referred. Such, then, being the nature of all the Sacraments, the doctors of the Church justly hold, that each of them has a threefold significancy; reminding us of something passed, indicating something present, foretelling something future. When we say that this is an opinion, held by the Doctors of the Church, let it not be imagined that it is unsupported by Scriptural authority. When the Apostle says: " All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death;" [1] he gives us clearly to understand that baptism is called a sign, because it reminds us of the death and passion of our Lord. When he says: " We are buried together with him by baptism into death, that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so, we also, may walk in newness of life;" [2] he also clearly shows, that baptism is a sign which indicates the infusion of divine grace into the soul, enables us by its efficacy to form our lives anew, and renders the performance of all the duties of true piety at once easy and inviting. Finally, when he adds: "If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;" [3] he teaches that baptism gives no obscure intimation of eternal life also, which we are to reach through its efficacy.
Besides the different significations already evolved, the Sacraments also not unfrequently indicate and mark the presence of more than one thing. The holy Eucharist, for instance, at once signifies the presence of the real body and blood of Christ, and the grace which it imparts to the worthy receiver. What has been said, therefore, cannot fail to supply the pastor with arguments to prove, how much the power of God is displayed how many hidden miracles are contained in the Sacraments; that thus all may know and feel their obligation to reverence them with the most profound veneration, and to receive them with the most ardent devotion.
But, of all the means employed to make known the proper use of the Sacraments, there is none more effectual than a careful exposition of the reasons of their institution. Amongst these reasons, for there are many, the first is the imbecility of the human mind: we are so constituted by nature, that no one can aspire to mental and intellectual knowledge, unless through the medium of sensible objects. Impelled, therefore, by his goodness towards us, and guided by his wisdom, the Sovereign Creator of the universe, in order to bring the mysterious effects of his divine power more immediately within the sphere of our com-
